


Those on the Cusp of Two Worlds

by Traillbits



Category: Le Fantôme de l'Opéra | Phantom of the Opera & Related Fandoms, Phantom of the Opera - Lloyd Webber
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Fluff and Smut, Interspecies Romance, Past Erik/Christine, Post-Canon, Sirens, mermaid
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-02
Updated: 2019-10-24
Packaged: 2020-04-06 11:15:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 40,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19061521
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Traillbits/pseuds/Traillbits
Summary: Left alone in the dark confines of his home, Erik had thought he lost all he held dear when Christine sailed away from his grasp. Until the day something-rather someone-pulled him into theirs. Who can say which voice was more entrancing, that of the Phantom of the Opera or the Siren? Set after the events of the musical. E/OC





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just barely missed MerMay month but I couldn't resist as this idea has been in my head for so long! 
> 
> The adaption of Erik in this story is heavily based around the ALW musical version (specifically on Michael Crawford's Phantom, both visually and in mannerisms)

Paris hadn't appealed to her. It never had.

In all honesty it was a rather bothersome detour she had to take if she wanted to get to Calais. Much safer and an easier means of finding a meal. She'd been scouring the waters for two days and found little to no sustenance. The closest she had had to any food was but a few stragglers from a school of minnows. But she'd been chased out into the narrow waters of the Seine when she was being pursued shortly after her unsuccessful hunt. The glint of her shimmering gills in the sun's reflective gaze had put an instant target on her back until she found herself hidden in the shadowed depths of a shallow man made bridge.

It seemed safe enough to come out of hiding, but she was still cautious, never to underestimate an enemy. But the creature either lost interest in her for a much more attainable morsel or she successful out swam it to the little hideaway. Simple enough to get back on her course. First matter was to get out of Paris, having swam further into the city waters depths than she would have cared to. Just how did the surface dwellers tolerate it here?

It was perhaps her own distraction that trailed her so far out of the waters she knew. Though it was not uncommon for her to swim in narrow shores, while not an ideal situation she had done it. But with food scarce lately, the murky waves of the Seine did not prove to be resourceful for hunting in the past or at the present time. But something was wrong this time around. Gravely wrong.

Up the river she took a wrong turn trying to find her way back. In sudden swirl that seemed to come out of nowhere, she felt her body cascading as though sucked up and swallowed into a whirlwind. She curled up into herself, her tail twitching and writhing uncomfortably. A yelp of shock erupted from her throat feeling her back crash into jagged rock. Flailing helplessly about the whirlwind beat her into the rocky cavern, the trauma her body endured so unbearable. Her eyes closed, she prayed for the pain and sickness to cease if and when she opened her eyes.

Frantically she awoke from the trauma she had endured, swimming vigorously through the tunnel like passage she found herself in. Where was she? How long had she fallen unconscious? Why was everything so narrow?

She had no idea where she was now. All she wanted was to return to the sea, wherever she was now was anything but home. The dark was not frightening per se, but the uncertainty of being so far from her sanctuary left an easy feeling in her belly. Feeling along the jagged walls, she was in some sort of alcove or cave like structure. She didn't like caves, it felt too isolating and enclosed. She missed the luscious blue, the sun of above beaming down on the water's surface.

And to make matters worse, she could see the water was barren. And ever still her stomach churned craving anything to fill the emptiness. The hunger felt so much worse, she must have been out for much longer than a few hours. 

She was lost, alone and hungry. What was she to do? Where was she to go? How could she get out of here?

\--

His music felt incomplete. What more could Erik bring to it without Christine's voice? The music of the night really had ended since she'd long since left his side. 

The masked man wasn't sure how long it had been since he had let her and the boy go. Had it been a few days? Weeks? He could not say, time was a meaningless and fleeting thing in his kingdom of eternal nighttime.  
With a kiss, the chestnut haired beauty had done him in, tears cascaded down his mismatch eyes knowing he had to set his songbird free. And he had done just that. In hiding he had caught a glimpse of the Giry girl finding his home, for reasons he could not explain she led the mob that was out for his blood astray in their pursuit through the catacombs, leaving his lair untouched and preserved.  
Erik hoped the lack of any further intruders meant the Phantom of the opera was presumed dead. Just as well he already felt dead, no real ambition to emerge from his lake side home underground. 

Angrily the masked man crumpled the sheet music incomplete. Nothing was right! It just wasn't coming together anymore! His Don Juan Triumphant was long since complete, but he had no further breakthroughs beyond his first complete opera. And without his muse, how was he to do more?

Erik in frustration sat up, the organ bench toppling over. Gathering up his failures he stepped outside his house. With a growl of anger and resentment he hurled the paper balls into the water, that bobbed gently on the lake's surface. Falling to his knees, the phantom held his sides feeling the weight of his loneliness hit him. 

Through his sorrowful sobs for lost love, he sang. His voice and music was all he had left. His song was filled with all the pain and regret overwhelming his heart. He wished his damned heart would just burst and let him find death's embrace, anything but this hurt. 

The masked recluse snapped his attention suddenly to the distance. His piercing eyes brown and pale blue scanned the water. 

He was sure he heard something. The balls of paper that still bobbed on the surface made ever the tiniest ripples. But something had caused a much larger ripple effect, enough to slosh and pickup water against the rocky shore. There were very few traces of aquatic life down here, but nonetheless it was possible some existed. 

But the additional series of sloshing noises when he turned his back, caused Erik to whip around.

While Erik presently had little desire to live, he did not tolerate intruders. He always kept the catgut lasso by his side. And he knew something was alive down here, something bigger than a mere guppy in his lake.  
Creeping forward he stared down into the impenetrable waters. He stood there for several minutes, ready to assault his unwelcome guest when they came up for air. But nothing resurfaced craving sought after oxygen. 

His good brow on the exposed half of his face was raised in confusion, no man could hold their breath this long. Could he finally be going mad? Was he so paranoid at this point that mere ripples in the water were putting him on edge? 

Maybe he would have begun to believe this had he not suddenly felt something grasp his ankles and drag him into the inky black abyss. 

It seemed asinine that he lived underground in a home surrounded by water and lacked the ability to swim. But Erik had not felt any need for it as he went to and from his home using the gondola. But whatever it was that had its hold on him made the masked man regret this lacking talent. 

Erik was a trained assassin in Persia, and yet here he was reduced to flailing and poor attempts at clawing for his assailant. So this was how he would die, he could already feel the darkness caving in.  
His vision so blurred and his strength waning that the masked man had not even comprehended the feeling of his body being dragged up above the waters' surface rather than cascading into the black depths. His blue and brown eyes had closed before he could realize he was safely situated back on dry land. 

Only when he awoke shortly after-soaked to the skin and his wig askew that Erik would realize something wasn't right. The factor that his mask was absent and likely lost to the waves did not cause him a traumatic bother. His face for once in his life was not what concerned him.

The phantom removed the drenched wig, staring out at the dark waves that had since rested and died down. Just why did he feel so uneasy? It was not the first time he had been attacked, albeit he'd endured much wider scale death threats or assassination attempts-even moreso than the night of the Gendarme's presence to his Don Juan being performed.

But it still bothered him to know that he was not alone down here anymore. And he had no idea where his attempted killer was at this moment.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> With apologies the first couple chapters will be shorter than my normal word quota, but I promise to make them longer as the story goes!

Just how... How did he do that with his voice?

She had been down there for days, absolutely miserable and starving. She heard strange noises down here, the bellows of some strange leviathan creature. Her tail twitched absolutely on edge of a coming attack. In her lifetime she'd never felt as scared as she did here. 

No gigantic sea creatures however came for her. The noises persisted, but no attacker approached. 

Rather she became the predator when she finally heard it. 

The call was uncomprehending, as if coming from above. But the sound, the voice was that of her kind! She wasn't alone! Perhaps she had hope for escape from her cavern.  
When she swam and swam she nearly bumped into something elongated and dark. Many of her travels she had come across man of course. And she could tell immediately it was the bow of a little boat that she hid under. There were humans here? 

She hated the way her stomach churned and protested in hunger. It was thankfully not often that she tasted human flesh-on her tongue it was absolutely revolting to indulge in. But having had no food for several days, she was willing to put vain pride aside. 

It was difficult to see from below the dark waters, but she could see movement above! Someone was here, but still she searched for the source of the call. But no other creature was around, who summoned her here?

Curiously she saw something bobbing against the water's edge. Cautiously approaching the surface she hesitantly touched one of the white spectrum's, it lifeless continued grazing the water.  
She sank further down seeing the man's silhouette give pause. He was not stupid and had heard her tail lap upon the surface when she approached. A foolish error on her part! She knew better than this, even in her starved state. She just needed to swim a little closer...

The silhouette turned to leave the shoreline. She had only one chance or give in to starvation. A leap with as much strength as she had, her arms wrapped around the land dweller's legs dragging them into the depths. 

Naturally the human flailed about to usurp her grasp away. She had seen this before, more often by her own kind that held no qualms devouring unfortunate humans.  
He-she was almost certain it was a he-had certainly more fight in him. She pulled at the layers he had, hunger taking priority. But her invasive assault slowed down when she realized something.

The call had stopped as soon as she pulled him under the depths. 

The land dweller's fight back had gradually begun to give way to fatigue or lack of oxygen they so craved.  
She paused her assault to glance down at her prey. 

He was indeed a man. But not so as she had seen of his kind in previous years. The layers of material over his flesh were refined and more pristine than the rough garbs she had seen sailors wear. His skin especially, so pale and white. Was it possible this human was sick? He dwelled on land but looked as though sunlight had never once touched his face. 

And his face. Quite uncommon for his species. It was not a serious shock, human's try as they may to enforce power on their lands were not as intimidating creatures as they perceived to be. Indeed so many more dark dwelling monsters of the deep would have them absolutely quake with fear. 

Still while his face was not terrifying to her eyes, the unaligned half to his misshapen cheek, jagged skin, and enlarged lips. A strange man, but still a man. 

But all the more strange, he sang the same call her kind did. It had come indeed from this man. No other creature was here, they were completely alone.  
Humans had their own calls, but it was not a simple song her kind had sung. No man alive could ever come to such a level as theirs.  
Except this man. 

She almost hadn't comprehended how limp he had gone in her arms. She could kill him now, if she kept him under any longer he would be dead anyway. 

But his song... his voice.

Hauling the human by it's under arms, she swam as surely as she could, Her head and his resurfacing. The light was dim, no sunlight to be found. The tiny specks of light were the only thing to illuminate this place. 

Just where had she emerged? 

Dragging the man to the rocky shore, she noticed above them the exposed bars opening the cavern to this alcove. Iron bars? Was this some sort of prison?  
She had had to thrust herself upon the rocks to hoist him out of the water. Her tail flapped about uncomfortably on the land mass. Her hand hovered over his face. By man's standards at least half his features were considerably handsome and normal in physicality.  
Nevertheless he was breathing. 

She had to know how he did it. How was he able to master their call so?

She would not go far, she would have to find her food source elsewhere. But she had to watch him. Sinking back into the water her arm grazed something. Curiously she picked up the foreign object.  
It was a strange shell, pure white in appearance, a hole in it's center large enough for a small stone or gem to be placed. Upon dragging the land dweller down she had seen the shell on his mishapen face, but only this unnatural half. 

She placed it on her own face, it was much larger on herself. Did it hold a source of power to the wearer? Or was the shell a sort of armor plating? If so why did humans refuse to wear protective plating over their whole bodies than the flimsy fabric they took to.

With the shell in hand she sunk into the waters to find some sort of nourishment for her aching empty belly, and to return to the strange man's cavern.

\--

When she did return, having only devoured seaweed and kelp that flowed below the lake, she listened with her keen ears. Where was the song? The call was here the other night.  
And where was he? The air was dense and still. The mist that coated the surface chilled her bare shoulders.

The man was no longer unconsciously perched where she had left him. So he must be still alive.  
Perhaps he would respond to the call as she had.

She must have been mad, it was impossible for man to properly comprehend it. Was what she heard some delusion in her starved state? 

Nevertheless she sang, Her voice harmonic radiated off the walls. It was a call of loneliness, one she'd known for many years. She had never always been so, but for many years that felt more like a millennia she had known a solitary life. Companions she traveled with here and there for her own survival, but never part of any tribe of her own.

She expected nothing, and received nothing. The white shell in her nimble hands, she glanced down at it. She really was going mad, this man knew nothing of their ways. And because of her foolish error she remained alone and hungry. 

But as she yearned to give up she did not. She returned again, a day later. If she heard nothing now, she would give up her fruitless efforts. Perhaps it was all a waste of time.  
She sang that song, wanting to fill the empty void. 

Imagine her surprise when a voice sang back. 

She gasped, not expecting that sweet sound. It seemed to fill the cold, empty cavern with warmth and life.  
Nearer she approached the shoreline until she felt something behind her. She sank back in the water in fear seeing the bow of the little boat come up on her. Cautiously she peered up her eyes peeking thorugh the waves.

Those eyes face to face with a mismatch colored gaze of a man.


	3. Chapter 3

Erik had liked to boast that he had seen many things over the years and his travels. But it was still perplexing that of all trespassers that this was a mere girl. Just how did she get down here and not trigger one of his alarms?

Their eyes locked as he stared down at the mop of blonde hair, and her eyes a piercing turquoise. 

He was unmasked-having since the attack been unable to locate it-and yet this woman expressed no disgust or fear. But he was not to get tangled up with the affairs of yet another young woman. His wounds of Christine were still so fresh, he dare not sprinkle salt in the wound.

"Mademoiselle," He said with a scowl. "This is not the place you ought to be." 

She peeked out further from the water after his initial warning. His face flushed seeing the woman's upper body bare. Her breasts small but well rounded and her nipples a pale pink almost in contrast to the blush in his cheeks at her lack of attire. While Erik had no desires to be hurled into another fruitless pursuit of affection, but he was still a man and could not deny her beauty. 

But his attention thankfully was pulled away from her peak bosom and rather focused on the massive amphibious tail that flapped about the side of his gondola. The green scales seemed to glimmer in the dull light of the lantern at the bow. 

He was without words, many things he had bore witness to. But, a mermaid? Surely he had finally reached the peak of insanity.

She slowly reached her free arm up, and held a familiar object to him.

"What does it do?" She asked softly, her voice a gentle whisper.

His mismatch eyes blinked in confusion, in her hand she held out his mask.

"I don't understand?" He wasn't sure what else to say but in response to her question. Even more baffled he was talking to a mermaid, and that she understood French, albeit a little rough around the edges.

"You wear the shell," She pointed to it and then to him. She put it on her own face. "Is it protection?"

"In... a manner of speaking it is. And it is not a shell mademoiselle. It is a mask."

"Mask?"

Erik nodded. "It is, and I would prefer it back."

But rather than simply hand it over, she held it closer to her bosom. 

"Please....err madame. I would most appreciate having my mask back." His voice a little more tense with a hint of annoyance. 

She glanced down at it and he again before smiling mischievously. She began drifting away.

"W-Wait!" Erik called out.

"The song you sing." She said, gesturing to him. "Sing it again."

Stranger and stranger this night was becoming. Here he was supposedly talking to a mermaid and she was holding his mask at ransom and compelling him to sing like a monkey dancing for coins. 

He frowned, "Why should I?"

"Your song is different. It's like mine."

"Then that was you singing before?" The mismatched eyed man asked. He had for a split second thought Christine had returned. The sound was so breathtaking to his ear, but perhaps exceeded even his own teachings to her. 

But this now confirmed it was not his protege at all, and yet her voice soared to the heavens despite she being bound to the sea.

As if he needed further proof it was she he heard, her lips parted and a sweet harmony escaped them. 

Erik nearly dropped the pole in his hand, the music struck a chord in him, as though dealt a heavy blow. 

And he felt compelled to join her.

Whilst he had no actual thought of just what she sang, he followed her in tune and let his voice fall freely. Their voices seemed to mingle and intertwine as the melody and sound bounced off the walls of the catacombs. 

She paused in her song, staring up at him as he did not seem to realize she had stopped. She was not wrong, that was it. His voice held her call, a lost puzzle piece completing a full picture.

His gondola rocked as the phantom hesitantly steadied it with his oar. She chuckled watching him. All the same her stomach grumbled at her as she began to drift away.

"Where are you going?" He asked, still unsure if she was even real to begin with.

"Hungry," She called. 

"What do you eat exactly?"

She frowned, "There is very little down here for me to hunt."

"So you eat other fish? I mean... you eat fish?"

"Whatever I can find."

It ocurred to him that perhaps she could hunt much more than fish. 

"The other night, that was you." A statement not a question. "You tried to kill me."

She nodded, "And I could have."

His eyes narrowed and filled with suspicion, "So why am I still alive?"

"Your voice proved worth more than an easy meal did." 

The knowledge that this beautiful creature was his would be murderer was not the shock anyone else might have. Already the disfigured recluse was trying to wrap his head around one impossibility at a time.

"Will I see you again?" Erik asked, it was not the first time nor likely last his life would be threatened. But rarely were his would assassins as captivating as this scaly tailed maiden. 

Rather than answer she held his mask up to her own face with a rather mischievous smirk and dived back into the lake. Her scales glinting in the dying lantern's light as she descended.

\--

She did come back but two days later. And still she refused to give him back the mask.

"You wear another!" She pointed as he traveled to the shoreline of the house. 

"Yes, as someone refuses to relinquish my best mask." Erik scowled. While this one was not uncomfortable, the cloth piece did bother him. But he only ever wore this one when he went outside the opera now. After what happened the night of Don Juan, wearing his half mask was far too risky. 

"It must do something more." She scrutinized, twirling about in her nimble fingers. "What made of?"

"It's called porcelain"

"Porcelain, is that a kind of pearl?" 

"Not... exactly." He paused. "I never heard your name?"

She glided across the water on her back-again Erik shamefully glanced away so as not to ogle at her bare breasts. 

"And I yours. But my name does not matter. You could not say it. Not in man made words."

"Well I would very well like to call you by something surely!" He felt indecent not even knowing her name. 

"By what?" 

"Well..." The night of their very first encounter rolled back to his estrange mind. When he awoke after the maiden released him, he could hear notes radiating in his skull from above. It seemed the Opera Populaire was back on its feet. A piece by Lortzing, the story this song originated he knew well enough. 

"Undine."

"Undine?" She asked quizzically, the mask resting on her flat belly, gently rising and falling with each breath.

"Yes, it is a German opera."

She hummed-as she did so the masked man gave a satisfied shudder at the sweet sound.

"Undine sounds nice. What I call you?"

"My name is Erik. No other name, no ghost. Just Erik." 

"Ghost?"

Erik shook his head, "Never mind that, it does not matter."

Undine glanced back at the house. 

"No one else is here," Another statement

"I prefer privacy."

"But no one hear you sing?"

"I would rather pick and choose the time and place when I wish to be heard."

"Did you wish to be heard when I trapped you?"

His mismatch eyes blinked quizzically. 

"And what makes you say that?"

"You sang sad. Were you calling?" The mask back in her hand she swam up to the shoreline, leaning against the rocks.   
The phantom considered this. He was indeed sad that night. His thoughts races with Christine. Only Christine...

"I'd rather not talk about that. There was no call to anyone."

"But I did answer it." She said, her gaze on the black covering over his face. She gestured to her own face.

"You can't have this mask either."

"No, I want to see you."

Shaking his head, "And THAT is certainly out of the question."

Undine cocked her head curiously. "I see you before already?"

"When you saw me without my mask I wasn't exactly expecting company to wash up on my boat."

"But why?" 

"I-!" Erik growled. He heaved a heavy sigh of frustration, his hands protectively over his mask.

"You have this back if next I see you, I see you." She gestured to the mask she waved teasingly in her palm. 

He did want it back...

Erik groaned, "Very well, the next time I will not wear anything over my face. and perhaps then I may ask you the questions this time. I grow tired of it tonight."

She nodded her mop of blonde hair. 

"Erik..." She tested the name on her tongue. It was a simple sound, a light sound. "I must go for now Erik."

Watching her dip down beneath the waves, Erik shook his head.

In the course of forty eight hours he had befriended a mermaid and the only thing burning on his mind was the need for that piece of wretched porcelain back! Surely he was going mad indeed...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And she now has a name! It's worth noting Undine does and will tend to talk rather funny at times. This is done on purpose, as she knows the French language just not as well, what with the whole living underwater thing XD
> 
> Also yes Leroux cameo with Erik's temporary mask being the black cloth mask described in the book. Don't worry, he will get his half mask back... eventually.


	4. Chapter 4

Swimming toward the surface, but immediately retreating.

Undine swam back down hearing a loud bellow. There it was again! Just like the oher night. Some sort of predatory groan that sounded as she approached the alcove. But no predators in sight.

Taking a chance she dove upwards. 

Yet she saw nobody and nothing, was Erik here?

The massive portcullis structure gate was drawn, barricading his home.

She was inclined to flee, hearing the noises grow louder. But she came intent to see the land dweller and his voice. And she couldn't cower away as she had hearing the roaring growls the previous night.

And so Undine sang. Clutching the iron bars, she called out for him with song. 

The rumblings and growling came to an abrupt halt. Only her voice remained. 

She swam backward from the portcullis, as the iron gate started rising. Undine watched it lift up, and seeing it disappear above she finally heard what she wanted.

Erik.

He felt compelled to join her. Music was always a drawing rush, something his very soul craved. And he had yearned always to hear Christine sing, even when she was dismissed to the chorus or soaring as the lead soprano she was meant to be. As long as her voice is what he could hear from his private box or below in his home. 

But not even her voice matched the caliper of this. This deep sea maiden, a siren he'd heard only in folklore tales. Her voice seemed to draw his own to the sound, as if Erik had no control of his vocal cords.  
And no control over his feet either it seemed, as he crept over. Ever the cautious, Erik stalked slowly to the shoreline, he could already make out her bob of blonde hair contrasting against the black waters of the lake.

He stood in front of the rocky shore, she leaned against them to see him. 

"There you are..." Undine mumbled.

He frowned, "And here I am."

She cocked her head at his expression in a silent question. 

"If you'll wait here, please mademoiselle." He silently walked back to his house on the lake-albeit somewhat unwillingly. Ugh! Why did he have to fall as host to yet another woman! And yet he still-with some disgust-carried the damply wrapped item in tow back down to the lakeshore. 

Undine's senses picked up something, she was transfixed on the brown wrapped package. 

"That is?" She asked.

"I hope it's not too on the nose, but you looked quite hungry last you were here." He explained unwrapping it. "Honestly I wasn't sure if you would be here at all! I'd bought it by chance in town yesterday from that no nonsense pion in the market. The fool kept twitching staring at my mask"

Undine's tail flapped about and she could feel her mouth water. It was not an incredibly large morsel, but it was a hearty looking trout. 

"The smell is quite pungent so I'm glad to be rid of it." Handing it to her, the edge of his ring grazed her thumb. Even in her hunger haze, she acknowledged the cool touch of metal in contrast to the heat his body radiated. 

Undine all but dove into the meal, Erik watching how messily she devoured the fish. Her teeth elongate and sharp. This beautiful creature harboring the mouth of a predator.  
She licked her lips with a sigh. That was the most meal she'd had in days that she'd been living off kelp like a lowly bottom feeder. 

"Thank you," Undine said as her tail batted at the waters' surface. 

He extended his hand to her, "You're quite welcome."

Erik mismatch eyes blinked as she reached up and took it.

"Wh-?" 

She felt along the creases in his palm, rubbing along his knuckles, trailing her tiny nimble fingers over each long digit. 

"They're rough. Here, and here." She said aloud. 

"Musicians hands, they tend to..." Confused and slightly entranced as the mermaid was so heavily focused on every muscle.  
She rubbed the onyx stone with her thumb and index finger. 

"I don't... mean to ah..." Erik stammered. 

"Hmm?" Undine glanced up at him.

Absolutely no fear, his face held no barrier of disgust to her. 

"I..." He cleared his throat. "I was actually gesturing for my mask. We had an agreement, did we not?"

"Did we?" Undine smirked, wiggling his ring clad pinkie.

"We did."

"But you'll put it back on."

Erik sighed, "That is the idea."

Undine stared up at him, "But I don't want you to"

"All the same, I would like it back."

Releasing his arm, her blonde mop of hair disappeared under the water. He'd thought perhaps she didn't like being told no and left in a silent temper. But she resurfaced, a familiar piece of porcelain outstretched in her palm. 

"I like to see you with no mask," Undine said softly. 

He stifled a gasp, surely this woman was joking or toying with him in some cruel joke. No one had ever been glad to see his bare face. If anything a mask was always forced on him before anyone had to lay eyes on his misshapen features. 

His hand on the mask, his finger twitched feeling it unintentionally graze against hers. The water was cool and yet her skin radiated warmth his cold home so lacked. 

"Perhaps the next you see me I will... consider your request." It was wet, but all the same Erik felt more content having the mask again over his face. It heavily smelled of kelp water.

\--

Today Undine hadn't actually intended to see Erik. But her body just felt an unknown aching convulsion. A lusting convulsion when she heard his voice again. But not just his voice.

She was in a gentle slumber when invasive it roused her from sleep. Her mouth agape and her green eyes wide in wonder. The sounds consumed her thoughts, already glossing over in a haze. Teal tail flailing from side to side, her breasts heaving up and down, Undine was practically stricken by the sweet sound. A beauty she'd not known by sea or land, a euphoric pleasure that racked her body endlessly.

She needed the sound, feel it wrap around her very being, she had to possess it!

Swimming frantically to the surface she passed the open gate of the portcullis. And he was there. His voice was all the more present, and with it that beautiful harmony. 

Erik stood with his eyes closed, a strange device resting against his arm and chin. In his other arm he held a stringed stick, using the stick he stroked the device's series of strings. His finger ever so adjusted as the strings gently pressed against each other. 

The sounds radiating from the device and the masked man's voice seemed to intertwine and conjoin together. 

Undine's soul felt as though it were being pulled upon just as Erik did upon those strings. The ache in her heart made her weep. This couldn't really be, she didn't want it to be. 

"Erik..." She cried out, her tail flapping about frantically against the ripples she made. She clutched the edge of the gondola tied down at the shoreline, the boat bobbing and swaying with the waves.

Hearing the commotion, Erik's mismatch eyes opened released from his own music's trance. He set his instrument down hearing a call of distress from that melodic voice.

Climbing down the rocky shore, Erik lowered himself down to a crouch. Her head was low, the cascade of wet curls hid her face. But he could hear the familiar sobbing sounds as her hands clutched the boat's starboard side tight enough to turn her already pale knuckles white. 

It was as if the poor creature was in pain.

"Are you alright?" He asked, quite beside himself as to what to do. "What's happened? Are you hurt?"

Hearing his voice so close, her hands slid down the gondola, up the rocks, until she could feel that familiar silky material.

Erik's shoulders stiffened as the mermaid clutched at his suit lapels.

"Undine? You're-?"

But he was silenced feeling her lips muffle his words when they pressed against his bloated misshapen ones. His hands were limp, but as she advanced not recoiling in sudden disgust he could feel his hands shake and tremble uncertainly. 

It was all so familiar. In his lair, turned around to meet the lips of a chestnut haired beauty, giving her freedom to him to save the one she really loved.  
But at the same time it was not familiar. This was not Christine. This kiss was not a kiss out of desperate pity. 

The kiss felt electrifying.

Undine was the one to pull away, her expression one in as much shock as he wore on his masked face. The tears running down her eyes had dried up, her hands frozen still fisted handfuls of his suit jacket. 

This time Erik was the one to shrink away, dumbfounded he fell over on his back. Hurriedly crawling back up against the dry rock, his expression blank and unsure.  
Undine wordlessly dived down into the lake, her scaly tail the last of her to disappear beneath the rippling water. 

Alone and left again in solitude, Erik finally exhaled a gasp he felt he'd been holding in for an eternity. 

How could-? Why would she-? 

Just why would she kiss him? And why did she weep? What possessed her to do such a thing? 

But Erik felt loathed with himself in turn. He felt traitorous, despite realistically having no reason to given Christine's long decided choice. What was a more agonizing and terrifying question rolling through Erik's mind was this:

Why did he feel this unbearable urge for the sea maiden to return and for he to kiss those dangerously tempting lips back?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Likely in the next chapter or the one after that I will increase the rating. As I'm sure the end of this chapter implies, things are going to get heated in the near future.


	5. Chapter 5

It wasn't impossible for her kind to take a human mate. But it was not what Undine had expected or wanted to happen to her. 

Certainly it wasn't a common practice. They did their best to steer clear of interacting with land dwellers, let alone take a lover. While Undine was not one to make a habit of murdering humans as a food source, she knew many of which that had over the ages and cared very little for those that walked land on two legs.

And when she heard Erik's voice, it was never her intention for any of this to be so. 

It scared her, frightened her to know what this meant. She had once thought she found her mate, but she was wrong once before.   
But Undine knew this meant more than being bound by love. Love was not even where this epiphany came from or necessarily a deciding factor. Though Erik did not seem unpleasant, rather he was a fascinating man-and one she did indeed enjoy playfully toying with. 

Rather when she heard that music intertwined with his voice, it roused something in her she'd never felt but knew exactly what it was. It sent a chill throughout her body, her senses felt heightened and yet weakened at the same time. The music filling her head caused a quaking shudder and insatiable lust she could not extinguish. 

Not without him. 

\--

He had heard her calling out to him. Just his name, and it was enough for Erik to stagger out to the shore of his house. He all but dived into the lake, his lack of aquatic skills weren't taken into consideration as he frantically padded through the water.

"Where are you?!" Erik shouted. His arms feeling numb after endless smacks against the rippling water, his strength waning. 

But he felt two arms intertwine around him. 

He could not help but exhale feeling warm breath against his ear. 

"I'm here Erik," Undine whispered to him.

His fears faded away, letting her pull him down under. She circled around to face him, the scales and fins of her teal tail seemed to glow and shimmer with the same beauty of sparkling crystals. Her blonde hair cascading and framed her petite face.

The sea maiden pulled away his half mask, giggling softly as she held it in her hand. When Erik reached for it back she shook her head with a gentle hum, intertwining her arms around his neck. 

"You don't need to hide from me," She smiles. His wig, already lopsided from being submerged is shrugged away. Undine brought them close until her lips pressed against his own. He felt so whole and complete. 

He yearned to hold her and keep her, she was to be his. 

\--

What little rest Erik took was filled with these endless fever dreams. It'd been quiet lonely days since that kiss, but since then his thoughts were a loud, roaring whirlwind of such intimate visions. Every night was like this, Erik was whisked away from the bed and into dark waters by a teal tailed maiden with an irresistible voice. And ironic as it was, the angel of music now appeared to be endlessly plagued with songs being sung in his head.

This siren had placed him under some hypnotic spell, and he could do nothing to resist.

Yet he didn't want to. That damned vixen!

Nevertheless, he hadn't seen Undine for days after that. It was only in sleep that they met and became one entity in euphoric nights of symphony filled passion. 

To his relief she did come back. He feared if it were any longer, his dreams of diving head first into the lake would drive him to madness and come true. It happened on his way back from above the opera house catacombs. 

"Hello," Undine leaned up against the bow of the gondola, her eyes never leaving his. She thought it curious how either eye was so different and told each another story. 

Erik nodded, "Hello"

"Are you well? After I-"

"Yes." 

"But you're not," She said flatly.

"I was just. Just startled." Erik shook his head. 

"Have you already taken another lover?" Undine asked for the masked man to stare agape.

"No! But... That's not what I mean. But, no I haven't. I mean I do not." Erik rolled his shoulders, trying not to allow his nightly fantasies cloud his thinking. 

"What happened that evening?" The masked man asked, "Why did you kiss me?"  
Undine shrugged, gently floating alongside the boat as he steered.

"I needed to know."

"Know what?"

"If I found my mate"

The boat rocked as Erik fumbled, dropping his pole in the water. He cursed to himself at his own clumsiness. What was wrong with him? Was the Phantom of the Opera really so susceptible to human weakness that he was reduced to a blundering mess?

"E-Excuse me?" Erik asked exasperated, 

Glancing down, he was handed back his lost pole. Erik snatched it, continuing his journey down the lake. 

"We've known each other a mere few weeks," He shook his head, "While I'm hardly an expert in the subject, it seems quite a short time for two people to fall in love."

"But I didn't say love." Undine answered, swimming on her back. "It can be, but how my kind takes a mate is different than how two land dwellers do."

"Well, perhaps you can enlighten me," Erik snorted, rather doubtful.

"We can love of course, but our mate isn't totally based on this."

"Then what?"

"The music."

His mismatch eyes stared down at the sea maiden, he ignored the perversion of thoughts that ran free in his distorted head. 

"What kind of music?"

"The kind that shakes and enters the soul. It is not as simple as singing a song, the true music is something that radiates and fills you. To the point that its beauty is agonizing, perhaps painful." Undine explained, dipping her head back.

He slowed his rowing. "Is this why you wept? You were crying, I had thought you were injured."

She nodded, "In a way I was hurt. Those sounds you made my soul coveted to the point of causing such pain if I could not have it."

"I suppose I should be flattered you enjoyed my playing. Not many have the proper ear for the violin."

"Violin?" Undine asked, glancing up at him.

"The instrument I was using, though I prefer the organ, both are easily abused and misunderstood." 

"Is an organ not a part of the body?"

The masked man chuckled, "Not that kind of organ, mademoiselle."

"May I see this organ?" 

"Unless you can sprout legs I'm afraid that can't exactly be arranged."

Now she laughed, "That is one thing I cannot do."

Erik shuddered hearing her melodic giggle. 

"Are you upset because of what I told you?" Undine asked him. 

"No."

"But something upsets you."

By now he could see the open portcullis coming in view.

He couldn't dare utter Christine's name. Something about the syllables leaving his lips no longer felt right. 

"I suppose I once thought I had found... my mate." Erik sucked in a breath. "But she was not mine. And she left with the one she had chose. It's why I ask you forgive me being somewhat apprehensive I'm the one you're looking for."

"I understand this." She nodded, her head dipped low glancing away. "Perhaps more than I care to say."

"Is that so?"

"I don't wish to say anymore on it."

Erik nodded watching her again, nearly colliding with the rocks as his attention was diverted. His head was absolutely stuck in clouds!

Just in time he pressed the pole against the black stone, halting a bumpy stop. 

"Will it... hurt you if I play again?" He asked.

"I don't know..." Undine said, watching as he stepped out of the boat, tying it down to the shore.

"Perhaps I will wait for you before I play again."

"Erik," Undine called.

"What is it now?"

"Will you tell me why you wear that?" She asked gesturing to her own face. 

Of course his mask would come up. 

"I should think you'd have seen enough humans to know my face is not one welcome amongst my own kind."

"But why? It is only your face."

His gaze softened, she really didn't see issue with it...

"People don't like-and in my case loathe and look at in disgust-what is different."

Undine frowned, "That isn't fair."

Erik sighed, "It isn't."

The mermaid began to drift away. "You want to be alone now."

"Yes. But no! Not exactly, I..." The masked man babbled.

She cocked her head, "You're confused?"

Erik realized he didn't want her to leave yet. 

"You wanted to see the organ?" He asked.

Undine nodded, her tail gently batted at the surface.

"If you'll give me a few minutes, I'll show you."

He had disappeared into the house. A short time later he returned. 

"You still wish to see it?" Erik asked.

Undine nodded, "Very."

He shook his head, beside himself on what he was about to do. 

The mermaid's green eyes blinked quizzically seeing the masked man begin stepping into the water. 

"What are you-? Oh!" 

Undine fearfully wrapped her arms tight around Erik's neck as she felt herself lifted from the water. 

"A-Are you alright?" Erik asked hearing her gasp. Her tail seemed to have a mind of it's own.

"I am. I need the sea to survive, but I'm not a trout out of water. But just where are you taking me?"

"Let me just show you."


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Edit: I would graciously like to thank ilustrariane for the Erik/Undine commission art featured at the end of the chapter, what a lovely birthday present! Please check out her tumblr and other artworks here https://ilustrariane.tumblr.com/

Of course she'd never seen the inside of a man made home. Undine was ever curious. Inside were many pictures, hand crafted works of art, texts on an array of shelves. 

She glanced up at Erik, still hoisting the mermaid in his arms. Occasionally her tail batted about, whacking into his arm.

"This may seem strange, bu it is the only way you can see it." He explained, as they entered a small entryway into a sitting room. Just passed that was a massive clawfoot tub. 

She felt herself lowered down into the water, cool to her skin. Undine felt immense relief, as her tail protectively submerged into the bath water. 

"Do you... feel alright?" The masked man asked. 

She felt even more encased than she did in the underground lake, but Undine's health was not in any imminent risk, as long as she had some source of water to thrive in. 

"Right now," She nodded. 

Erik cleared his throat, "Good."

"Are you going to get this organ?" Undine asked, leaning her arms against the end of the tub. Her tail fins surfacing, to bat between the water and air. 

The masked man made a hand gesture with a bemused smile. "I'll have to ask you listen for it first."

Stepping through the doorway, Erik made his way to the organ bench. Perhaps something simple, but still elegant enough for her keen ear. 

He let his fingers do all of the work as the notes bellowed out. No note out of place and the music so graceful. Erik exhaled feeling so complete with the tender caress of music at his fingertips. The music flowing and soaring from the depths of his soul. Each inhale of breath was fueled by the need to create music. 

And the music spoke powerfully and also seemed to...screech? 

He had stopped with a groan, assuming there was some sort of problem. He had just cleaned it the other day too! However that screeching wasn't the instrument. It sounded positively horrific and ear splitting. The very sound made the grey whispy hairs from under his wig stand positively on edge. 

But the screech came not from the parlor, it came from the powder room... 

Erik bolted upright to the doorway, but fell to his knees in agony. The paining shriek was excruciating.

"Undine?!" He staggered to his feet, to where he heard excessive splashing about. 

The mermaid's tail flapped aggressively against the tub, water sloshing about violently. She grasped either end, her breath hitched and erratic as if being struck by a hard blow. 

"Undine! Undine!" Erik yelled over the screaming, prying her hands off and into his. "Listen to me!"

Her mouth was agape, the razor sharp fang like teeth poking out of her gums, her eyes wide and wild with fear. She looked lost, no longer aware of just where she was or what was happening in a strange defense mechanism. 

"Undine, I-!" Erik knew by this point shouting over her would do no good. 

He sang to her, knowing not what else he could do. 

"Slowly... gently... night unfurls its splendor..." It chilled him to the very core to sing this. But this song belonged to him, his words. He pushed Christine out of his mind's eye, no more of that night! Tonight was not about Christine. 

"Grasp it..." Gently he squeezed the sea maiden's hand in his, the masked man's free hand swayed in front of her. "Sense it... Tremulous and tender..."

His fingers delicately caressed her chin, her cries did not sound so deafening. She in fact, leaned in closer to his touch.

"Hearing is believing... Music is deceiving." Erik's freehand wavered, gliding down to her bare shoulder. "Hard as lightening, soft as candlelight..."

He almost hadn't realized the mermaid had stopped screaming. 

"Dare you trust..." And nor did Erik realize he edged closer and closer to her beckoning lips that a few moments ago caused great pain. "The music... of the night..."

The music did anything but deceive her. It only opened her eyes at last to what she had had yet to see until now. Undine had indeed found her mate. And Erik-whether or not he was fully aware-was gradually accepting this, ever the more so when their lips met again. 

He had only ever been kissed by one other woman, but something about these kisses. These small, unresistant lips felt warm and inviting and affectionate. To the point that Erik heard a moan escape those sweet sounding vocal cords and something nibbling on his lip. And deep within he felt a compelling urge to hear that beautiful sound again.

Erik exhaled, feeling something pull him close. He nearly stubbed his toe climbing into the claw tub. Water sloshed about at the additional density in the water. Undine's tongue begged his mouth for entrance, and to possibly the surprise of them both Erik easily complied.

A groan of what he could only assume was a frenzy of lust, radiated from up out his throat. His musician hands wandered and craved to seek out everything he could possibly caress. The sea maiden's skin undamaged and smooth, just as he had run his hands down the fine lines and notes inked into untarnished sheet music. 

Feeling her tongue glide against his in an assertion for dominance, Erik's hands explored more. Her hair fell from between his fingers. It smelled of kelp and sea water, yet the blonde strands were vibrant and full of lively health. 

When his thumb grazed against something else in particular, it made Undine shudder and moan against his mouth. 

Erik's palm found it's way through her hair, down that swan like neck, passed her exposed collarbone. His bare hand rested against her naked breast, not once had he touched a woman's raw bosom before. And in his hand, it felt so warm and so soft. He rubbed his hand along the woman's tender flesh, his thumb circling her nipple now fully erect. 

Undine clutched his damply clothed shoulders, their kiss broken only so as she could moan and pant against the shell of his ear. Erik's free palm trailed down past her flat belly and to run along the smooth scales of her tail. It was like caressing the finest trail of velvet against his worn fingers. 

Her tail twitched even after Erik's fondling stopped, giving her pause in just what was happening. 

They both locked eyes with each other. His blue and brown to her green.

Whatever the original intent Erik had had running to her cries, this was happening. He could snap his eyes shut and open them, pinch his skin, scream himself. But this would not go away, this was not a dream. 

But a dream come true into reality. 

"I..." Erik breathed heavily. "I... I should get up."

Having realized his position overtop of her in the clawfoot tub. Carefully sitting up he stepped one foot over the other out, his trousers and suit jacket drenched. 

"Humans are strange," Undine mused.

"Why is that?" He asked curious, removing his soaked suit coat. 

"The anatomy is quite perplexing, at least that of your sex."

His already tense shoulders froze up, "I beg your pardon??"

"Well, male's of my kind are more... sheathed as opposed to outwardly displaying their arousal as such." 

His face-even while partially concealed-was reddening as a hard blush rushed up to his cheeks. Erik in cowardice shame held his wet and rumpled suit jacket over his pelvic region, to which his body fully betrayed his thoughts. 

"I'm sorry." The masked man paused, "About the music. I wasn't aware it would do that. Or was it really so dreadful?"

"No, no I must apologize Erik." Undine answered, her words still a breathless whisper. "The noise, that organ. It mirrors that of a grave predator, just the sound was overpowering me to fear. It was not your music that scared me, that is what saved me."

The intensity of the water now turning cold and his soaked clothes becoming quite uncomfortable, Erik cleared his throat.

"I should take you back," An albeit cautious step to the tub he carefully scooped the sea maiden up into his arms. Undine's once again lopped around his neck supportive, rising up fully Erik made his way outside toward the shoreline of the lake. 

"Are you sorry to have kissed me?" Undine asked, mere steps from the water's edge.

"At one time I would have wanted to say yes." Erik stated, "Another night I would have said yes. But I don't tonight, not any other night either."

Dipping his body low, Undine carefully flopped toward the lake before letting her tail half submerge. 

She reached her hand out whils he stayed crouched. Her fingers caressed along the cold porcelain of his mask. He ached to feel her skin on his, for once in his life damning the object on his face for being where it was.

He watched her sink below the water's surface. And at that moment, seeing the bewitchful mermaid disappear, Erik realized just how lonely his house on the lake was.

[](https://www.flickr.com/gp/185205008@N06/50gYBV)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The story has moved up to mature as it's going to get a little more *ahem* intense. Enjoy!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A fair warning ahead of time, this chapter is going to include some sexual context. Reader's discretion is advised moving forward in this story.

Erik felt an exhilaration of inspiration overwhelm him, his senses heightened and his soul on fire. The music flowed like rainwater onto the parchment, the masked man scrawled endlessly and desperately to express his muse. He'd never felt such an ache and relentless craving to create such a masterful work. 

This score did not burn, it radiated with a power stronger than such as his Don Juan Triumphant had. A newly bred passion shaped this piece, one that filled him up with a purpose he never knew he had.  
Leaning back, Erik's hands caressed the notes he'd created. It was far from complete, this labor of love would take much care and time. 

Ever still Erik had to show her it. 

His hands found the bow and violin, stepping outside and toward what had become their regular spot. 

Standing at the edge of the rocks, Erik poised the bowstring and the instrument resting against his chin. 

Both he and the violin sang together, across the lake the sweet symphony could be heard. And from below, someone poked their head up.

"So it's true then," A voice said behind him.

Erik's bow hitched, a painful screech resonating from the violin. The masked man whipped around to a familiar face he hadn't invited nor expected.

"Just what are you doing here? Better yet how did you get here?" He scowled rather annoyed.

"I had to see for myself if you had survived." Madame Giry stated. 

Setting down his violin, the masked man crossed his arms, "As you can see I am quite alive. Was that all, mild curiosity?"

"Well it is when I find you down here, causing little to no disturbance above."

The masked man snorted, "I have better things to do than be bothered with those two bumbling buffoons."

Madame Giry nodded, "So you have been keeping to yourself."

"What does that mean?" 

"As you haven't heard, Monsieur Firmin and Andre have made themselves scarce of the Opera Populaire."

Erik raised his good brow, "I see, quite the cowardly fools it seems."

The black clad woman frowned, "Quite, the murder of the opera's lead tenor and kidnapping of a soprano would tend to instill fear."

Erik glanced away, he wanted to forget about that night, just how many weeks had it been since that performance? Talk of the Phantom of the Opera had died down on the streets of Paris, just a scarce whisper in the streets now. 

"Will that be all Madame?" Erik asked impatiently, his eyes darting about the black lake. 

"You're in quite a hurry? Expecting something else to show up?" She inquired, his twitchy behavior was strange.

The masked man scoffed, "Because I have many visitors as you know, indeed I'm expecting visitors for afternoon tea! I merely want privacy to continue my music. If you would be so kind as to give me that reprieve."

Her cane clacked against the stones. His live presence was somewhat alarming. But he was quite surprisingly behaving himself for the first time in the three years she'd come to know him. "Very well."

Before making her way down the Rue Scribe passageway, she gave pause.

"If you've not heard of what has happened in the opera, then I'm to assume you've not heard of Christine."

Even with her back to him, she could tell his breath hitched in his throat.

Erik took a gulp of oxygen, "I have not heard of anything to do with Mademoiselle Daae."

"Actually, it is Madame De Chagny now. They were married just two weeks ago before departing for London."

The masked man gritted his teeth, "I see."

Without another word, Madame Giry ascended up the secret rear passage she'd come from. After Meg's recollection that night she was skeptical the Phantom had survived or in the very leat had abandoned his underground home. Imagine her surprise when she could have sworn hearing music from down below for several days now.

Erik sighed heavily. So Christine was gone, gone and married off to that boy. He wondered if she had kept the dress, surely the Vicomte had her get rid of it after they escaped. Erik remembered every painstaking detail he'd taken with each bead, cloth of fabric, and gem that been sewn into her wedding gown.

But it was not to be his wedding. 

The sound of sloshing water met his ears. His mismatch eyes softened seeing the beautiful sight of that tail that seemed the shimmer in the dim candlight of his home. It made him forget about Christine, forget about the Vicomte, and even the opera house above.

What he needed now was the music. But not mere notes on parchment or scrawled in a score, a music created through passion. The raw passion he so craved and desired from her. 

"Would you sing for me?" Erik asked, down to his knees as Undine drifted closer.

"I would," Undine nodded, her arms outstretched.

Erik all but crawled to the very edge to her. Just the mere inches apart they were was unbearable.

"But I want to sing to you,"

"Are you not?"

The mermaid gestured to her own face then his, "Not with that. Sing to you, not the mask."

His desperation was as strong as his need to protect and hide his face. Only ever for her had he willingly removed that porcelain safety blanket. 

His worn fingers brushed along the mask, grasping the edge. He cautiously set the mask beside him. She did not want secrets, not for Erik to hide.

Startling himself, his hand reached up to remove the copse auburn brown wig. His grotesque face fully bare for her to see. 

Undine's hums filled the dread in Erik's heart with something warmer, gentler. She expressed no fear or loathing to his face, rather as though her eyes saw a hidden beauty that no one but she could see.

Leaning over more and more, nearly off balance, Erik let his eyes flutter closed feeling her small fingers run through his grey whisp patches of hair. Undine's voice filled his ears, numbing the man's senses. Despite not understanding the language in which she sang, the sound filled him with a warm intense heat. Her hand running down over his closed eyelids, down to gnarled flesh and twisted features. 

Erik leaned too far forward, tumbling into the water. But Undine's arms snaked around his sides and up his back. 

She hummed, her tail curving around Erik's legs, snaking him closer.

Unable to help himself, Erik let himself fall forward to her embrace and his malformed lips to hers. 

They drifted together, limbs and lips intertwine until the sea maiden's bare back met the iron bars. His hands cupped either side of her face, and a beautiful sound met his ears. His hands became busy weaving through her hair, the other caressing and giving a squeeze to her peak breast. 

Her head reeled back, with a throaty gasp. Arching forward her lips met Erik's jawline. Undine impatiently tugged and pulled on the bowtie, ripping it loose before her mouth trailed down to his throat. 

She felt a giggle in her thoat hearing the gasp and the trail of bubbles that escaped his agape mouth. She could feel sucking along the tender skin that his pulse had slowed down. He would need air, quite literally Undine was leaving him breathless.

Despite the lack of oxygen, Erik seemed more transfixed on continuing to roll his digits across her soft flesh. 

Pulling him up toward the surface of the water, she moaned against his neck feeling his thumb and index finger roll along and pinch the bud of her nipple. Resurfacing they were both drenched and panting, but neither intended for the moment to end so suddenly. Shakily her hands pulled Erik's head down to her chest, she needed to feel more. 

Dipping his head low, letting their passion play descend his mouth came next. Undine's head leaned against the bars, her moans melodic and filled with a sense of joyful pleasure. She pulled on the damp grey mats of hair on his head, feeling his tongue dart out and roll along her erect bud. His bloated lips pulling away only to descend on the neglected twin, her hands cradling his head. His now free hands ran up along her scales, silky smooth in touch. He wanted to have her, possess her and just take her.

A ridiculous notion, before tonight he'd never gone to such lengths with a woman, legs or no legs. 

And Undine was glutton for the euphoria, just craving more. Decades of neglect and unfulfilled desire building up to this. 

His mouth pulling away, Undine in a rush of haze fueled force, pulled on Erik's shoulders spinning them around, so as he was leaning against the portcullis, albeit shoved into it. 

Erik opened his mismatch eyes, blinking puzzled as Undine disappeared under the waves. Of all times now, why was she leaving? To leave him on such a threshold was a cruel trick, devious little vixen!

At least he thought so until he felt a tug on his trousers. 

Undine had felt something brush against her, and she wasn't completely oblivious nor ignorant to what it was. Males of her species and his were quite similar in the context of their arousal. She smirked, prying at the fastening on Erik's pants mischieviously.

Erik's hands grasped the bars, his fingers curling along the grate as if he were being bound by invisible chains. 

"U-Undine..." He gasped, his chest heaving and leaned back at the feel of a foreign but pleasing sensation below his abdoman.

She'd pried the fastening loose and pulled enough fabric down to free his length. Her hand teasingly rubbed up and down the base of his shaft, feeling him stiffen and harden at her teasing advances. Erik arched forward with a hoarse groan as he could feel her tongue lick the head with small strokes, occasionally feeling her lips graze him. 

While he couldn't see what she was doing, the stimulating sensations made his eyes roll into the back of his head. 

His grip on the bars tightened, feeling her mouth wrap around his cock. Erik's dry gasps were heaving moans and glutteral grunts. He felt his body buck forward as she began to suck and work along his shaft. 

"I... Undine I..." Erik moaned, unable to translate his thoughts to words. His pulse rate was high, a rush of heat in his lower belly radiating. 

Her tail curled about her as she continued her advances, releasing him only to teasingly lick and suck the tip.

Her head bobbed up and down the length of his cock, feeling him fully hardened and stiff, a smile at her teasing lips in satisfaction. His body taking over where his mind was an alluded haze, thrusted forward aching for that eventual release.

It was only after she had him fully propped up against the portcullis gate, taking as much of him as she could in her mouth that he finally couldn't take anymore knowing just what was coming next. His knuckles were stark white from how hard he gripped the bars. 

A final heaving groan, Erik's head fell back feeling himself reaching a euphoric climax. The soft exhale and complacent moan he released was absolute music and harmony to her finely tuned ears from below the waves. 

Undine felt the warm heat flood into her mouth, letting it run down her throat as she pulled away from his cock. Letting herself drift up to meet his glazed over eyes above the waters' surface.  
His hands that just moments ago had a death grip on the bars, peeled away and fell limp at his sides. Undine caught him around the waist to stop him from sinking into the water. The man looked on the brink of exhaustion. 

"You..." Erik exhaled, numb fingers pulling her close to him, Undine steadying him. "You've done this before?"

"Well, yes and no." Undine leaned into the crook of his neck. "Of land dwellers you are my first."

His mismatch eyes, while still glazed over perked up slightly. 

"So, you have... with your own kind?" He asked, his voice still felt hoarse and heavy. 

Undine frowned, "I did many things, at a naive point in my life where I had thought he was my mate. But I was foolish and too young to understand."

His fingers ran through her damp hair, "How old are you?"

"I came to be born in what your kind would say was the year 1709"

"T-That would mean you're over a century old?"

She shrugged, "It is still quite young, we can survive even longer than this. It's just a matter if we can make it on our own long enough to find our mate. Everyone is said to have one somewhere."

Pulling away, her hands held either side of his face, looking into his eyes. She knew despite the light and joy she saw, in them was hidden a deep sorrow, one he refused to speak. They both had secrets that perhaps one day they might share.

Perhaps just another night or two before that discussion reared it's head. His voice and twisted features was all she wanted to take in right now, her tail wrapping around his legs drawing him closer to her.


	8. Chapter 8

"But I'm sure I heard it!" 

"Enough of this foolishness, there is nothing down there!"

"Exactly! It's dead silent"

"But the Opera Ghost-"

"Ladies!" Madame Giry barked, a stomp of her cane. "No more of this wasteful gossip! And I expect to hear no such talk of it again. Now, continue with your exercises."

The dancers plead and stretched, but Meg wasn't going to let this matter go so easily. She knew just what she heard! 

Her mother would be livid if she knew she had been sneaking down there, but she had to know. The Opera Ghost was said to be dead by now, when she found his lair yes it was abandoned. But neither she nor the mob of angry Parisians had found or retrieved a body. 

Some speculated after Christine escaped the Phantom had killed himself, others said the Vicomte murdered him in the heat of an epic battle for the sake of his love. 

Meg of course sought out Christine herself, they were friends after all! But the blonde was quite doubtful of what her friend recounted. The Phantom had them both in his clutches, but he let them go.   
But even more doubtful, just what had happened to him after that? She'd found his mask, and left it just where she'd found it. 

But was he really dead?   
He was revealed to be a man, no ghost at all. But could a dead man, ghost or not play music?

When Meg had crept down through the formerly blocked off entryway to the lower cellars, during the short fleeting moments in between rehearsals, she could swear there was something alive down there. 

There was something, it's not as though they had fish down in the lake! Even if they did fish don't sing!

\--

Erik's sleep was blissful and plagued with endearing emotions. 

Whenever he closed his eyes, all he could see was water. Blonde curls cascaded through the murky deep, arms long and slender dragging him further down. His body impacting with the sea bed, his legs hiked up around a tail of teal and crystal like scales. His hands pulling the mermaid's head to dip toward his awaiting lips. 

Was this all really some heated fever dream? Did he still blindly percieve this was a spell by the hand of a sea witches brew? 

His mind felt utterly obsessed, like clockwork her face and voice invaded his thoughts. Surely though, it was not as simple as a concoction or incantation that would create such a fascination for her. 

But that's what he was afraid of. He knew what had happened the last time he had become so obsessed before. 

\--

Undine really did miss the open sea. She rather enjoyed the reprieve from endless pursuit by predatory deep diving fiends. But it was very lonely and isolating. She could not understand how Erik seemed to savor such solitude. Were it not for his presence she may have gone as stark raving mad as she had been in that bath tub. 

But her fears melted away so much more when his lips crashed down on hers and she felt that radiating heat and touch. 

Since their dalliance several nights before, something felt different. Something about Erik had felt different. He craved her touch just as much as she for his. 

Perhaps with no other company below in the cellar, any presence was a well welcome sign, but Undine knew it was not mere desperation drawing them together. And every night to which she she pulled him to her embrace, feeling the heat of his mouth on her skin, those hands that pulled on strings and on the strain of desire in her lower belly. Undine knew it was a sensation she couldn't fight or pull herself away from. 

How could one man, accustom to his own isolation do such to her? Land dwellers she'd come across often traveled in their own packs. Rarely did she ever happen upon one so apart from his own people.   
But she did know why he was so self ostracized, the sea maiden hadn't forced it out of him. She was merely curious.

"My own mother was loathed and disgusted by me," Erik scowled, his malformed lips arched in a frown. "Probably did her a kindness when I finally ran away."   
Undine frowned, "For my kind it's natural for us to be willingly released out on our own, but not forced."

"Fleeing has been a running history in my life. Between my laughable excuse of my adolescent years and finally escaping the fair. The opera was my first and only sanctuary."

"But you were alone again."

"I chose to be this time. At least for awhile..."

"Is that who you talked about?" She asked, padding the water on her back.

Erik shook his head, "I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't."

"But I asked."

His mismatch eyes watched her tail fins rise up and emerse down into the waves.

"Her name was Christine, she sang and danced above with the other chorus girls of the opera house."

"Hmm."

"I was her teacher, she had much work and very much potential. But I overstepped myself."

"Do you love her?"

Shaking his head, "I was deluded and wrong. She didn't love me."

"But do you love her?" Undine asked again

Erik paused, and the context of her question. Did he still love Christine? Despite her being miles and oceans away from him...

"No." He answered, "And I don't think I can be capable of that love for her again."

Swimming to where he sat, Undine leaned her head on her arms, watching him from the rocks.

"Erik?" She asked.

"Yes?"

"Is there a way into the open water from here?"

"The open water?"

She nodded, but she saw the glimmer in those blue and brown eyes fade.

"Why do you not wish to tell me?"

"It is..." Her fingers stroked his bare chin, bringing his head to glance at her.

"I can't be encased in here." She whispered.

Erik pulled away, he shook his head.

"Am I so easily disposable?" Erik asked bitterly.

Undine looked at him in confusion, "Disposable?"

"Maybe it is because I'm not like you?"

"I don't understand what you're talking about?"

"You got to toy with me, play askew with my emotions and flee away where you came from."

She shook her head, just why was he acting so dense?

"Erik, neither of us should stay here. I certainly cannot! Barely there is anything to sustain me down here."

"I can get you food if that is what you need."

"And I do not need to be fed, I need to hunt. It is in my nature."

This was that moment Erik was dreading, she wanted to go. And what he was so afraid of had come and tumbled out of his mouth before able to force his lips shut.

"I do not wish you to go." He mumbled, his eyes dark and cold but betraying something he didn't think himself quite capable of.

"But why do we have to stay here?" She asked, "Come with me. You know I must."

The masked man had thought his ears deceived him, "Come with you? But where? I cannot just waltz outside! Don't be ridiculous."

"You can, but you're afraid to." Undine stated shaking her head in disbelief, drifting away and dipping low into the lake.

"Wait!" But already she was gone. Erik growled in frustration, standing he stormed up to his home.

"ME? Afraid to leave, ridiculous! How could she suggest such a notion?" His aggravation descended all at once, his fury taken out on his music. His fingers making quick work in subsiding his spout of anger against the organ keys, a release of the tension rising from within. 

Just why was he so angry? Perhaps because some part of him knew Undine was right. He could not keep her caged like a prisonor. And the days that followed when he did not see her filled him with an empty sense of selfish guilt.

For he knew that truth he had been denying himself but no longer could. He had thought this was the case with Christine, but he let her go so as she could escape him.

But Undine, she asked him to go with her. And perhaps the truth went both ways for he and the sea maiden.

If you love something, then you must set it free. 

\--

Erik was anything but calm for what felt like the longest week he'd endured. He had to talk to her. Perhaps he could convince Undine to stay just a little while longer. The masked man for the past decade had called the cellars his home. Isolation was all he knew and what made him feel safe. 

But to leave, to face the unknown after so long. It was overwhelming for a man accustom to the dark to face the garish light of day. 

However, if he were not to face it alone. Should he have someone there, someone that wanted him there beside them. All he wanted was to feel what he sought from Christine but never got in return. 

But to leave felt too difficult, he had to convince her somehow. Just awhile longer, she would understand surely she had to.

This relied though on him telling Undine this. But she hadn't shown up, something wasn't right. He'd had arranged a large morsel of an offering to her, knowing and feeling quite guilty that she'd been so starving these last few weeks. 

But it worried him seeing no one as the days progressed. 

Lifting the guards holding the portcullis in place, the gate sprung up. Erik untied the reigns to his gondola, stepping in to push off shore. 

Steering, Erik watched the waves, desperate and blind to how to find her. 

Drifting down the lake, his violin rested against his chin. His own siren song to call her, if she heard it surely she would come. 

The masked man played, his bow poised against the strings. 

Erik had been playing for hours but what felt like days. And nothing made itself apparant to him. 

He felt an ache in his chest both hearing and seeing nothing. Maybe she was already gone...

The Phantom's gaze was downtrodded, he scowled at his distorted reflection staring back at him. He shoved his pole ino the water, destroying the image. Doing so he rocked the boat just a little too much, his arms steadying the boat but hearing something make a heavy splash.

The Phantom angrily slammed his fists down, just what was he doing? All of this felt foolish, and now he'd drowned his prized instrument in his blind obsession. 

All he wanted now was to go home. His violin could not be easily bought and replaced. It was finely crafted and personalized when he'd first arrived in Paris. That he would have to figure out another night.  
Erik watched his home come back into view after thirty more minutes of drifting astray down the water. 

His hands worked to tieing down the gondola again, his strides not as confident as they had once been. A void he couldn't fill fell with the weight of each step.  
So much so up to when his footfalls stopped abruptly. 

The wheezing sounds and grinding of something on the rocks drew his ears. 

Imagine his surprise to find a fish out of water, quite literally out of water.

"Undine?!" Erik called, seeing a familiar teal shape.

Her hands coated in dirt, her scales drying out and scraping painfully against the jagged ground. 

The masked man sprinted to her, lifting her head. 

Her eyes were haphazardly gazing everywhere. Could she clearly see?

"You need to go back, not here." He knelt beside her lifting her up in his arms quite similarly to how he had nights prior to the incident in the bathtub. His arm encircling around her as she leaned down toward his outstretched arm. Her hands grasping it with each wheezing sigh. 

Standing fully, he re positioned her walking down to the shoreline she had crawled up from, Undine clenched and grabbed at what she could of his jacket. 

Stepping into the water, Erik shuddered at how chill it was tonight. At times he could survive down in the cellars rarely resurfacing to know what season it even was. As he couldn't remember the last time he set foot upstairs, it was highly probable that winter would be a shortcoming. 

Undine's tail flapped about wildly feeling exposure to the water. She exhaled, leaning into the crook of his collar, clutching his collar. 

"Erik..." She weakly croaked.

"Shh it's ok, you're safe I have you."

"Erik I need..."

"Please. Please let me-"

He hadn't however expected to feel the sharp sting when teeth nestled into the flesh of his neck. Erik's knees gave, Undine tumbling into the lake, tail disappearing with her.

His hand grasped at the wound, eyes overtaken by swirling tunnel vision. The water up to his midsection, the heavy moaning was not on brought by a moment of searing pain. Rather he could feel an overwhelming surge of calm serenity practically coarsing through his veins. 

Arms that sprung out of the water pulled him down, just as they had in his dreams. 

He had been short with her during the last time they talked, but was he really so out of line that she was willing to drown him now over it? 

"Don't be scared please." She mumbled, the mermaid's voice still raspy but not so deathly desperate as it had been. "You'll feel more relaxed, it's normal."

His head just barely above water, Erik was numb and his mind paralyzed what to expect.

"I need you... And I needed some way to tell you." She whimpered, pulling apart the ill fated suit. His bowtie going first, and the buttons being torn away of his dress shirt. 

"Why is it me?" He breathed, his hands reached down to stop her advances. "Am I just something you wish to have because your internal nature tells you to?"

She clenches fistfuls of his shirt in frustation. 

"Our fate isn't just intertwine because I was told it had to, I have choice! And I choose you Erik!"

"But w-why?"

"How did it feel when you loved Christine?" 

Erik's vision albeit distorted, focused only on Undine's face.

Her hands came up to pull away the mask, letting it plummet down into the water and bob aimlessly on the surface. 

"Did you feel excited when you felt it strike you? Or terrified what may come of letting it happen? Maybe even confused just what this was that you were feeling?" She asked him all of these questions.

A disoriented nod of the head, "Yes."

"Maybe you don't feel that same mix of questions here, but with you I do. It's all telling me that I..." She gulped. "That I do love someone, and that it is why I'm gasping and aching for your touch and why I... "

His hands, twitched and shook feeling hot kisses. But not those feverish lust seeking lips, ones that ached for compassion. That sought out love in return.

Without saying the words he had wanted to say the Undine, they were spoken for him. 

"I can't be without you." She shook her head, Erik could taste a saltiness mingled with her kiss. But opening his eyes to look at her, they were not her tears he tasted.  
His arms that shook weaved around her back. He did not have a hungering urge to fondle every inch of her being or devour her lips with his. All he wanted now was to just be here.

"A... Anywhere you go" His fine tenor spoke, "Please let me go too."

"Will you?" Undine asked.

Erik nodded, "I will."


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Some smut coming ahead in this chapter! Reader discretion advised folks

Adjusting her collar, Madame Giry satisfied reached out for her cane. Another morning in her small flat before a days work rehearsing Meg and the other girls. Long early mornings spent at the Opera Populaire, but certainly rewarding to see her dancers. 

At least when they actually listened to instruction!

It was one reason especially why she wanted the rumors her girls chattered on about hushed up. Rumors would instill doubts, fears, and unneeded stress for the dancers. Neither they or the opera could afford such simple mistakes at this point in time. 

And she wanted none of them, especially Meg, to even set foot in the cellars after that night. She was furious finding out Meg had ventured down to the underground lair when the mob and gendarme were on the hunt. But her motherly relief at Meg's good health subsided her anger at disobeying. 

Like any other morning, her routine was simple. Having bathed, dressed, and fastening her hair in the same up done braid as everyday.

What was not simple nor part of her routine was when the ballet mistress felt herself, grabbed from behind, the other hand over her mouth. With a forceful smack of her cane, she felt the grip-while still in a hold-slacken and a resonating male groan. Madame Giry was not a young lady, but that was not to say she could not hold her own!

Her dark eyes tried to turn to see her assailant and was meant by pure white. And it was too white to be flesh.

"I'll let you go, I simply didn't want you to scream and be startled." Erik said quietly, letting the woman go.

Madame Giry scowled at the masked man, tempted to whack him once more with her cane. "Would you explain to me why you are in my flat, Monsieur Opera Ghost?"

He gave a haughty smirk, "Ah so it's prudent for you to invade my privacy, but suddenly I enter your home and it's unacceptable."

Her ice cold death glare did not waver at Erik's dry attempt at humor.

"Fine, I am asking a request." He let it come forward

"And it was a matter so important as you needed to track me down in my home?"

"In a matter of speaking yes. I can't have any of your ballet rats-please don't sneer at me Madame I mean no offense to you or little Meg-overhearing this."

With an impatient thunk, the older woman relented, "I am listening."

"I need..." Erik sighed, tipping his fedora low over his eyes. "I need a means of passage out of Paris."

Madame Giry's brows rose in confusion. "I see."

"Yes, preferably up the North canal."

"Curious why you of all times now decide to leave."

Erik shrugged, "I am a wanted man Madame. Phantom or no, the gendarme would still sooner see me dead if I were found out."

"While I understand that, what I find curious that you decide to leave this long after that night."

"Forgive me, I didn't expect to have an eviction notice or scheduled date of departure." He said, rather annoyed by all the pestering.

Her cane tapping against the floor, she went on further.

"Perhaps you could also enlighten me with a question of my own."

Erik sighed, "And what would that be?"

"Earlier the other night, I had caught Meg and Giselle sneaking off towards the cellars. They insisted up and down that they could hear music."

Raising his good brow, "Your point being? I'm always perfecting my music Madame."

"Meg said she heard more than one voice."

Outwardly Erik held his poker face, but on the inside he worried. Of course he and Undine had been careless! The cellars below the opera were well below ground, but together their voices resonated. It was only a matter of time before someone nosey enough overheard them. 

And what's worse, if anyone SAW her. Erik remembered his days in the traveling fair, how the ring master was constantly hunting down more and more precious rare living oddities for his side show. The cruel man's sideshow attractions treated like less than cattle and exposed to fat faces gaping and ridiculing them night after night. It was one thing to capture the Phantom cursed with only half a face, but it was another should somebody discover a beautiful woman with a tail and fins.

But Erik did not yield. He could not put Undine at risk.

"That's a ridiculous notion. Unless you're going to speculate that there is now a second opera ghost in the basement."

"Or the opera ghost has a wife."

The masked man did not let his rousing fears come full circle. But the notion pressed against the gears in his head. 

Undine.... A wife... 

"Madame, I assure you after Chri-... Madame De Chagny do you actually think a woman is the last thing I would even consider at this point? All I want is peace and solitude. And the only way for me to get this without being hunted, is if I leave Paris for good."

She considered this, her eyes studying the obscurity in his that she could only fathom to scratch the surface of. Her eyes shifted to a strange reddened spot obscured by the masked man's bowtie and collar.

"Your word is not the best to go off of." She stated.

"But it is all I have. And I will make sure you are financially compensated for the effort on your part."

"I will... Consider it. But I would like to think on it when a wanted murderer is not standing in my parlor room."

Erik nodded, "Fair enough, and I trust you to keep this conversation between you and I?"

"Of course, that would do me more harm than good if I tried to report you to the authorities."

"Then I shall leave you to your day in peace." With the nod of his fedora, the Phantom disappeared down the hallway before his foot falls were non existent. 

Madame Giry exhaled a frustrated sigh, thankful that Meg had left the flat earlier that morning. 

\--

"You're quite sure of this?" Undine asked, finding this revelation hard to believe. 

"Indeed I am." Erik nodded, "I'm just... not sure how I feel about this."

Leaning so as she could more easily and comfortably rest her arms up, she nodded.

"But I will be there, I can't stay here but I can't leave without you." Her eyes pleaded even moreso than her voice. 

Her hand trailed up to where his leg's dangled over the rocky edge. Her fingers weaving tiny circles against his knee.

"How will I be able to keep up with you? Or how to find you?" He asked, her gentle touch a comfort.

"We will find a way, and you already know how to find me..."

"I'm just afraid to lose you." His hands weaved around hers, pausing her swirl of circles.

"And you won't," She mumbled. 

Pulling him down with the hand clasped in his, Erik knelt on hands and knees. The thought of losing her after he almost had days ago, was one which he'd rather not linger on. 

Her feather light kisses lingering along the deformed crevasses of his face were all he could feel. Since he'd agreed he would let Undine go-and in turn go with her-he had become accustom to leaving the mask off. If he left the piece of porcelain on he was sure one of these days she would fling it straight down into the lake's abyss. 

And of one of the few attributes to his misshapen face, Undine's gentle caress was a tender feeling he craved and sought for. 

While awkwardly crouched, Erik climbed down toward where the shoreline met the lake. Letting himself become lost with warm kisses in the dead cold of his home. 

Her hand trailed up his caved in cheek to his sunken half of his nose, up to the copse hair of his wig. 

Erik had been somewhat prepared for what came next, his suits becoming worse for wears whenever he'd fallen prey to carnal desire. 

His tie and jacket already shirked away, and with good precaution feeling his boot clad feet make contact with the water. His body clinging to the sea maiden for warmth as well as the comfort of her company as he let himself sink up to his chest in the water. 

Their lips and tongues met, limbs a tangled mess and Erik feeling the buttons of the white dress shirt being tested. The material already soaked sticking to his skin, now being pried open, he sighed feeling warm palms move up along his slick back.

He felt her fingers trace over the healed but rough edges across his shoulder blades. Undine hovered over his scars, working down the jagged and smooth lines down his back. She wondered just what had afflicted him like this? Was this the work of his own people?

All of that pain, the memories of misery she wished she could wipe away. The present was as closest as she could change and set right. 

Undine's head lulled back, feeling those malformed lips linger down to her collarbone, nipping along the tender flesh. She felt a strong arm wrap around her waist, callused fingertips rubbed along smooth scales. The other arm cradled her head, his hand intertwining in blonde strands of hair, allowing Undine to further dip back into his awaiting embrace. 

The mermaid exhaled feeling his lips in teeth gently nip at her neck and all too familiarly trail down to kiss the pebbled nipples of her breast.   
Erik was satisfied to hear an aroused purr escape her throat. His tongue glided along the erect pink bud, her hands clawing and digging into his back from under his half torn shirt. 

His hand caressing the sensitive scaly tailed flesh felt further and further down until Erik gave pause. His hand gliding down over a silky in texture crevasse, to which Undine's mouth fell open releasing a tender coo off her lips. 

She groaned in protest when he pulled back.

"Please," She begged.

"That's..."

Undine nodded.

"You're certain... This is what you want?" He asked at last hesitant at the final threshold of their intimate dalliance. 

The look in her starstruck eyes said all, feeling her arms pull him back to her lips was all the answered he had yet to receive. 

The raw heat felt so much so familiar, the rush that was that first and final performance. The passion and thrill he had felt under that thick heavy cloak, tempting a woman he so desired to succumb to his advances. 

But this was not a soprano simply playing the part of a wanton seductress but at heart being afraid and unyielding. Undine was an erotic sea goddess, entranced and enticing him to discover those warm unspoken secrets. He was what she wanted, and she what he desired. Tonight they stood on the bridge together to watch it burn. 

Extending his hand back down to the foreign folds, Erik's heart was racing. As he'd confessed, the joys of the flesh he had been long denied. Much less to engage in such with a woman not even human, but nevertheless still a woman.

But as he extended a finger inside, he felt Undine arch forward, her tail flapped erratically against the water. He applied a little more forceful pressure, pumping his digit in and out before allowing a second entry.   
Undine was panting, her breasts heaved as her hands grasped and clawed at his shoulders. Her body ached in pleasurable delight with each pump of those fingers, yearning for more. The unmasked man let a finger still within her curl and took notice to the melodic moan that escaped those perfectly molded lips.

Her hands sunk down into the water, pulling against the confides of Erik's trousers eager and frantic.   
Erik felt that familiar tugging sensation, a groan of arousal rose from his throat. He felt released from the buttoned confides and felt warm fingers wrap around his stiffened cock. His blue brown eyes softened, glazing over feeling her rub her thumb against the tip and continue her way up his shaft. 

The final threshold growing nearer, the maestro could stand the foreplay no longer with each enticing stroke and caress of her hand and fingers driving him over the edge. 

"I... I must have you," He groaned, relinquishing his hand.

Undine's head leaned into the crook of his neck, her hot breath against his throat caused a shudder to run down his spine. 

"Then you may have me," She mumbled, her hands too peeling away to come up and rub up along his scarred chest from the open torn shirt just clinging to him. 

Shifting himself and his hands lowering down to her hips where his musician fingers met the clash between skin and scale. 

The mermaid could feel his appendage grind against her, Undine's mouth making work to hot kisses against Erik's exposed throat. Her teeth nibbling against the reddened spot that she had clamped down on days before. 

Erik felt as though he could hear angels sing upon hearing the raspy cry she released when he fully entered her. 

Undine's body shuddered and her tail batted against legs. Her back arching taking more of him inside her. 

Green eyes wide, and her mouth agape, Undine's fisted hands dug into flesh. Erik felt his hips rock forward, another thrust into her soft warm folds. 

Undine's teeth that were nibbling, bit down feeling him pull in and out with each thrust and motion. Erik's eyes rolled into the back of his head from both the pain and the pleasure that mingled into one exhilarating feeling of passion. 

Her body rocking forward, she grasped either side of his face, both handsome and deformed, the hungrily kiss Erik's bloated malformed lips. Their moans muffled and hands wandering and intertwining. 

Their heated song of pleasure and passion reaching the peak moment. Minutes that felt as though they went on for hours, Erik could feel Undine's tail twitch and wriggle erratically. He never knew how much he needed her. The sought after need for this euphoria of holding her, taking her, becoming one conjoined being with her. Her breath hitched as with one hard moan that she felt herself tighten around him. Erik's body shuddered, his hips giving out one last thrust before he felt himself go slack and feel that sought after release seep out. 

Her tail swayed slack in the water, her chest heaved feeling warmth inside and stars overtake her vision. She yearned for nothing more but this feeling to last for a lifetime. 

Erik could feel his body sweaty and clammy, still buried within her, they stayed intertwined moments after. 

Passing the point of no return and yet Don Juan felt both triumphant and conquered. As Erik knew he could not continue underground alone like a mole any longer. He would travel all seven seas if he must if it meant only being with her, the only one he so needed.


	10. Chapter 10

Meg could barely keep it in. She knew exactly what she heard, but she knew if her mother knew she was down in the cellars again it would mean worse than extra rehearsals. 

"So you think it's her?" Mary asked the fellow ballerina. 

The blonde nodded, "Just who else could it have been?"

"But Christine left for London, you were the first one she told."

Meg sighed, remembering how downtrodden she'd felt when her friend called her to Raoul's estate to tell her the news. 

"I know that's what she said to me. But what if she changed her mind and didn't tell anybody? What if.... what if he took her?"

The tutu clad girls gasped, Jammes spinning with a skip. 

"He's dead Meg! Why do you keep trying to scare us!" She cried.

"Or what if," Giselle gulped, "What if he's a real ghost after he died?"

"I-" Meg was going to persist but hearing the notable clack of her mother's cane approaching, she scampered back to her position in the lineup.   
Madame Giry's eyes narrowed, seeing Meg haphazardly skip back to her place among the other ballerinas. Meg was always acting so distracted with her friends among the dancers lately. 

This would certainly come up in a discussion when they returned home. 

\--

Over the last several days Erik had been making work on what valuables would be leaving with him. This was no simple move-and not one for someone living five cellars underground-certainly some precious items would be left behind in this one way trip.

His hand ran along one of the massive, well polished, brass pipes of the organ. He'd crafted it himself down to every gear, pulley, and pedal. Sadly there would be no way to take his beloved creation with him on this journey, even if he were to dismantle it entirely. 

Sacrifices needed to be made-while some oh so pained him. It would only cause him more pain though if he were to stay and never see Undine again. 

How did the masked man become so lovesick for a woman that could not even step onto bare land?

At another time he would have been sickened at the mere thought of anyone ever taking the place Christine had had in his heart. Since becoming her angel and teacher, taking her though the mirror passage forth into the Phantom's realm. His feelings had been ensnared by the chestnut haired beauty and shattered when she rejected him for that boy. 

And yet within the course of what he was sure was only a handful of months, that spectrum had changed. The light in his life now stemmed from that of a sea goddess with golden hair and scales that sparkled like that of emeralds in the light.

She ironically had haunted the opera ghost in his sleep. His body trembling and hot, his muscles twitching this way and that. He was there, and so was she, fully immersed and together. The marks on his throat itched and pained him only during these restless nights, Erik's hands would claw at the air, but feel nothing. These dreams only persisted him to wake, often in a cold sweat with the sheets askew. 

Her face was invasive in his mind's eye whilst Erik vigorously had to decide what he could transport with him. The sheet music must come of course! He could not depart with his music. Even Don Juan Triumphant, yet his fingers hesitantly grazed the sheet as though it were a rabid animal to approach with caution. 

This piece that so made his soul burn with desire and inspiration at a point in his life. But those feelings had shifted, yet nevertheless it was still his words, his notes, his creation. 

He carefully set the music down among the papers stacked to which would be accompanying him. But his new creation, that which he prized dearly, was already safely held with other lesser works. Weeks of toil and work already engrossed into a single score, rewritten and revision over and over. 

Erik's eyes softened hearing a sound, a familiar and enticing sound to his ears. A shudder ran through him, feeling the music call him forth and awaken a warm heat stirring in his loins. 

Stepping outside, his masked face held a smile seeing the all too familiar sight awaiting him. 

"Hello," Undine smiled, watching the man approach.

"Hello," He greeted, taking a seat on the rocks. 

Her hands dropped below water, "I have something for you."

"And just what would that be?"

Lifting the object out of the water, Erik's mismatch eyes were wide with astonishment.

"How did you find this? I thought I'd lost it forever!" He asked agape, taking the violin from her extended hands. It was certainly not without damage, being waterlogged for several days-possibly over a week-and with one of the strings damaged. The wood already swelling in shape. It was a relieving familiar sight to see but in a saddened state. Perhaps he could fix it, yes. Yes! He could certainly do it, it would need much required repairs and affection. 

"While I was scavenging earlier," She admitted. "Quite a strange object that seems to make such a beautiful noise."

He set the violin down on the rocks. His hand reaching down, fingers caressing her damp but warm cheek. 

"I will lead you to the canal out of the basement today." Erik promised, it scared him and set his heart a hard flutter to imagine her leaving. But they would be seeing each other again. 

"It won't be a goodbye," Undine attempted to reassure him.

"I understand, I only..." Erik trailed off. 

"I know," She nodded. It was terrible seeing the hurt in his eyes. "You know that we need this."

"I don't know if I can handle this change as well as you," Erik frowned. "I haven't lived above ground for years."

"Neither have I in a manner of speaking," She giggled mischievously.

The angelic sound infectious as Erik felt the curves of a smile.

"Not quite what I meant, my little vixen."

"Hmmm..." 

She tugged teasingly on his outstretched leg. 

"I feel responsible leaving your wardrobe worse for wears." Undine said.

"Think nothing of it," To tell the truth he was already under dressed at the moment. Still adorned in his dark slacks, he had over this his blue gold evening robe he'd acquired in his travels. 

Erik nodded, his shoulders stiffened feeling her palms rub up along his clothed thighs.

The mermaid blinked, "Is something wrong?"

"No... Not exactly I'm..." The masked man fumbled with his words. "I know we... well... I suppose I'm just..." 

Her eyes perked up with a sense of recognition "Did you not enjoy mating?"

Erik sputtered, his hand coming up to run over his wig as it suddenly felt very warm down in his lair despite the cold chill. 

"N-No! Not like that! I mean... I did, very much. But I... I'm just not accustom to it."

That seemed to reignite the kindling flame in the sea maiden's eyes, a teasing smile curving her lips. 

"I understand. I would be quite open to helping you with that." She purred, the hands caressing his thighs teasingly spread his legs further apart. 

Erik's sucked in a shallow breath through his half misshapen nose. "Just how do you do this to me mademoiselle?"

"It would seem quite easily..." 

Erik shirked away his robe, before letting himself be re immersed in the lake water. With how many times he'd taken a dive into the frigid water he was ever the more thankful he'd created a filtration system just after arriving in the opera house bowels. 

Pulling him down fully, her lips intertwined with his. Her hands busy stroking his unmasked half and the other pulling against the button fabric of his slacks. 

They drifted to the surface, Erik's hands greedily felt up her breasts, cupping them with a squeeze. Undine sighed in delight, letting her tail weave around him, drawing the man closer. 

A hum escaped his lips, a sound that only created another exasperated gasp from the sea maiden. 

"Beautiful..." She breathed. "What is it?"

"It is my own work," Erik gasped, still with lulled senses, 

"Can you... sing?"

"I. I don't..." 

"I need your song Erik," Undine pleaded, her fingers twitched and wriggled to get beneath the restrictive fabric.

The hum and rumble from his chest rose, his words soothing, warming, and tantalizing. 

"Past... All thought of if or when," He sang, his hands coming to life as if he were again on that stage. Callous musician fingers weaved through blonde hair, grazing against stiffened nipples, down to rub along her silky textured entrance. 

She gasped, her tail a twitch. Both his body and his music caused ripples of pleasure to coarse through her very soul. 

"Abandon thought and let... the dream descend." 

Erik could feel her body quiver as his finger curled within her and another came to join it.

"What raging fire shall flood the soul? What rich desire unlocks its door? What sweet seduction lies before us?" 

Undine's shoulders sank, her heart a flutter to such euphoria and audible beauty. 

"Past the point of no return..." His voice a seducing purr with each roll of the tongue. "The final threshold, what warm unspoken secrets will we learn?"

"Many secrets it would seem," Undine gaped, her hands finding their way down and past the fastening for his slacks. Her hand grasped around him, Erik's voice faltered feeling her hand stroke and pump. 

Erik felt as though he were in a pleasant, numb, drunken stupor. Only a few short days had passed since he had shirked his virginity, and he was already craving more. Was this what he had been denied for so many years, the reality of such a thing setting in felt downright cruel. 

His arms weaved around the sea maiden, pulling her up to him. He could feel her stiffened nipples press against his chest. He had to have her now.

"I should have guessed!" A screechy feminine voice declared. 

Erik's eyes flew open wide eyed. Undine gasped, ducking behind the masked man.

His eyes narrowed, now? Of all times now?!

Madame Giry's cane clacked against rock. "Just like Christine all over again! I should have guessed why you were in such a hurry to flee Paris! No more kidnapping!" 

Undine's head peaked out quizzically. No more? Just what had Erik done before?

The black clad woman shook her head seeing the masked musician disheveled and the lady shrinking behind, her small face flushed, eyes a dazed flutter and bosom naked and exposed. 

"My god Erik, just what have you done?"

"It isn't like any of that!" He argued.

She scoffed, "You're the last one who I would believe. Perhaps your companion can shed some much needed light on this?"

"Leave Undine out of this!" Erik hissed. 

The two bickering was making the mermaid quite nervous and not in a pleasant or comforting mindset. If this woman had found them out, who else could find out?

Erik heard a splashing noise and whipped around, "Please Undine, wait!"

Madame Giry however, was at a loss for words when the lady dived down, and when she did where the woman expected to see legs and feet watched a sea green tail surface and disappear below.

"Please, Madame." Erik's voice, still erratic but calming down gradually. "Do let me explain."

She nodded, "Perhaps now you should."


	11. Chapter 11

"If I hadn't seen it with my own eyes, I would think you'd finally gone mad." Madame Giry shook her head. "How exactly did it come to get down here?"

"I'm not sure how SHE came to be in my lake," Erik corrected, crossing his arms. "Perhaps washed in from a canal connected to the Seine. But regardless of how, she wants to go back out there."

"Well I can hardly blame i- her. She must feel quite trapped, wouldn't you say?" 

His mismatch eyes glared at the woman, "I'm telling you how many times now? Three? Well I shall say it again, I did not kidnap her. I don't exactly think I could even if I tried Madame. She didn't originally pop up from the water for a polite curtsy and hello."

"And you have every intent on letting her go?" She asked, rather skeptical.

"I'll follow her."

The older woman blinked, "Follow her? That's..."

"It sounds ridiculous I know, but I don't want to lose her. And she doesn't want to lose me, it was Undine's idea for me to leave."

"And that's why you want to leave Paris." She stated, putting two and two together. "Here I thought-"

"Thought what?" Standing up, Erik rummaged through his belongings. After he led Undine out of the catacombs he would have limited time to catch up to her. Everything needed to be ready in order for the Phantom to say goodbye to his kingdom of darkness. 

"Christine."

A single word that caused an unpleasant shudder to run down the masked man's spine. 

"I had thought you were going to follow her trail to England when you said you wished to leave Paris, I had assumed you meant to leave France altogether."

"Well Madame, you were quite mistaken. I have long since closed that chapter of my life, and do not wish to open it up again. Please. Already this journey is going to be taxing on me, do you think it's going to be easy for me? I'll need to leave so much behind, and going up there." He sighed, "I know exactly the kind of world that waits out there."

Her cane making a gentle clank, her hand wandered over the spines of the several books upon his shelves. 

"If it's isolation you still crave, can you not still have it?" Madame Giry questioned. "I can't imagine you of all people living in a residential flat."

Erik snorted, "Many thanks for that. Though you're not wrong, certainly I do not want somewhere so pedestrian. Undine is all the company I need."

"Perhaps you can arrange a getaway at sea." 

He nodded, "I had considered this. But I can't do this alone as it pains me to say, I still require your help."

Her hand dropped to hold her cane, turning to face his turned back. She heard the locks of a trunk click.

"You're quite sure you can do this? And her? She is of course not an ordinary woman."

Turning to face her, Erik met her dark eyes. "You think I don't know that? This whole time I've been questioning all of this. But I can't let her go and stay down here until I'm alone and dead. Madame, she loves me."

"You know this for certain?"

The masked man nodded, running his hands through his wig.

"I'm sure."

She nodded with a sigh, "As it happens I have been looking into your voyage. It will take me a few days to arrange, but there is a ship docked that will be leaving for Normandy."

"Normandy?" 

"Indeed, whether or not you'll need to be smuggled aboard I can't say for certain yet."

"If I have to cram myself into a ship's hull then so be it. That may benefit me actually given what region of Normandy it docks."

The older woman mused this, that the Phantom intended to leave his prized opera that had been his home and sanctuary for so many years. And while it was all for a woman, it was not for the woman she had originally assumed it would be for.

She yielded, "Very well, I'll see what I can do. Give me a few days, the ship I know will be docked for at least another week."

"Thank you. And might I ask you one other request that the next time you make your way down from the Rue Scribe that you make your presence a little more well established?" Erik scowled grumpily. While he'd adjusted his trousers since escorted her into his house, he was still quite disheveled and the clothes he still had on quite damp and sticking to him uncomfortably. 

With a nod and a heavy feeling of awkwardness, she agreed. "That's fair. Good evening Erik."

\--

"Can we trust her?" Undine asked skeptical.

Erik was relieved she hadn't vanished forever in fright, resurfacing a few hours after Madame Giry had departed. 

"She is quite a nosy woman, but she is an ally for the time being. She kept my box safe for me and vacant for the last three years." He explained.

The mermaid glanced behind Erik, toward his house. "Which box?"

A chuckle resonated from his throat, "My opera box up above. Inside we watch performances with dancing and music. Box 5 is my personal box and to always be kept empty for my use. And Madame Giry took great care to make sure that demand was upheld."

At least until lately, he mused to himself but did not say aloud. 

"Erik?" Undine asked.

"Yes my dear?" His mismatch eyes softened gazing into those of sea green.

"She seemed quite angry when she discovered you and me."

"Pay her no mind, Madame Giry is a firm handed woman with a temper."

"But she mentioned other women." The sea maiden inquired. "Was there anyone else down here?"

Erik shook his head, "She... Well she was under the wrong assumption that there was. And there isn't other than you and me."

"There's more isn't there though?" Her tail bobbed against the surface.

"There is, but I want to get you out of here before I continue that story. Before any more interruptions." The masked man knew she would have to know, but he wanted to be away from the opera house when he told her. And when her lips met his, his fears fell away of discovery and doubt.

"You have no idea how much this means to me Erik," Undine said.

Fastening his cloak clasps and adjusting the fedora on his head, Erik stood and stepped into the gondola. Undine trailed beside the boat as he pushed off, the open mouth of the portcullis gate passing behind them. 

"I'm not sure the way you came in, but I'm sure of a way out that's accessible for you." Erik explained, taking care as he rowed with the pole.   
Undine was excited to reunite with the open water, but in part scared as well of this day. Erik had become so much to her she had not even found among her own kind. The waves of the sea called to her, just as his song did to her soul. 

The tunnels continued, left and right and left and right. It was a wonder she did not get dizzy attempting to navigate it herself, yet the masked man knew these catacombs as he did the back of his hands. 

She heard him hum aloud, she sighed turning her body so as she swam on her back. Attempted to keep his concentration on the tunnels ahead, the corner of his pale blue eye could not help but gaze down at her. Undine's beauty was as much a marvel as her voice, her blonde hair cascading in the water surrounding her like a divine halo. The water glided down her petite breasts and belly, the fins and scales of her tail gleamed. Little to no light sources excluding the gondola's lantern, her scales twinged as did like tiny stars. 

"Down here will lead back towards the Seine," Erik guided, the tunnel still cloaked in darkness but this blanket of night was natural and not surrounded by man made walls.

The streets of Paris were dark and dim in the dark of night, many having safely enclosed themselves in their homes. Still nightly residents were present but kept to themselves against closed shop windows and down the quiet alleyways. 

Slowing the gondola under shadow, Undine leaned against the bow. 

"How are you going to leave?" She asked.

"At the docks there is a schooner leaving in a few days for Normandy. I will need to sort out some affairs, but there is... a haven of sorts I may have access to in Rouen."

"Where is that?"

"It's a small town off of port." With an exhale, "I was born there, I know the town enough to find a hideout if I must until finding a permanent home elsewhere."

Seated in the boat, Undine leaned further against it. Erik grasped her small hands in his larger masculine ones. 

"When will I see you?" He asked, desperation setting in already.

"Your land dwelling companion said a few days? In what would be two days time for you, find me here. The sky black and where we're alone." The sea maiden instructed.

Erik squeezed her palms. "I will."

Leaning down he pressed a kiss to to her knuckles and along her fingertips. Throwing formalities aside, Undine let go of his hands only for them to reach up and remove the porcelain mask. Her other hand pulling him in by the back of his head. 

Her soft puckered lips seemed to perfectly compliment against his bloated malformed lips, sharing one final kiss in the night.  
Pulling away, he had to resist diving in the water himself to join her. 

She spoke words that tumbled from her mouth but had no meaning or comprehension to his ears.

"What does that mean?" Erik asked, seeing her glide away from shore.

"From what I speak," Undine eyes gleamed and her lips curved. "It means that I love you."

Erik heart felt as though it stopped beating within his chest, the very air and time itself standing still and silent. His hands suddenly feeling clammy and twitchy. 

Undine's out of reach arm was outstretched to him before she turned away to dive down into the dark abyss of the night. 

"She really does... She does love me." Erik breathed, his heart heavy but at the same time full at such a revelation. And while she had only been gone fore mere moments already felt like eons.


	12. Chapter 12

Undine had thought her eyes deceived her at first when Erik appeared at their meeting point. 

Seeing an unfamiliar shape and set of clothing appear from the shadows, she bared pincer teeth, shrinking into the water up to her neck.

"Undine, it's me!" That familiar tenor spoke from the dark.

The sea maiden squinted, she barely recognized the masked man at first.

"Your face..?" She asked, the mangled half of the man's face was concealed with thick gauze. His clothes normally formal and immaculate for land dwellers was very basic and more apt to the novice sailors she'd seen from a distance. 

"Madame Giry secured me passage, but I will be too easily recognized if I'm seen wearing a mask." He explained.

"Erik," She already knew what the answer would be but she wanted to hear it. "Did you do something to warrant attention? Than just your face."

Albeit his head low and his mismatch eyes glancing away he nodded.

"Something bad?" 

Another nod.

Her fingers trailed along the toe of his shoes. 

"You know I still love you even when you tell me what it is you did." She said, gazing up at him. 

Erik swallowed the lump in his throat. 

"Undine, I've done many things in my life that I'm not proud to bolster." He explained.

"I'll be waiting for the day that you tell me," She sighed. "Do you leave soon?"

Erik was relieved to see in just the past two days the mermaid looked like she had a much healthier glow. Certainly she had been attaining more nourishment than the enclosed lake. 

"I leave in the morning, once there I'll be on the sea the following day. It seems their maiden voyage will begin early." He smiled, "All the more beneficial for us."

"I miss your music," Undine pouted, her tail trailing behind her with a splish splash. 

"And I miss your voice," Erik confessed, sitting on his knees. "My muse is only complete when I can hear your song."

"And you will. Silly man you must be patient." 

She spoke of patience, but inside she ached. The rush of being free in the open water was exhilarating and a delight. But it still felt hollow and bittersweet without that beautiful sound. 

"If you follow the Seine, I have a means of reaching you." Erik said, pulling back on a case behind him. 

"What is that?" 

With a click, the masked man retrieved his prized and beloved violin. While it still looked worse for wears, he had since repaired the internal water logged damage and the faulty string. It was no longer pretty but it now played once again exquisitely. 

Poising the instrument against his chin, he tuned the violin. His bow poised as it gently rubbed along and down the strings. 

Undine could not help the sigh of arousal hearing such music, it was something new. The sound was one of Erik's sounds, she recognized the harmony that he hummed during their journey through the tunnels.

"Beautiful..." She breathed.

"It's not quite finished yet, but when we arrive in Normandy I shall play it in its' entirety. But until then, I'll play this verse during the voyage only when it's safe to see you."

Her eyes hazy and filled with wonder, she nodded. "And I await the nights that I hear this call."

She wanted nothing more than to drag him down to the deep depths and let him have her and she have him. But she and Erik had a plan, so only his lips would suffice. Lips that she then diverted down to the shell of his ear, drooping toward his jawline and throat. She had to resist the arousing urge to take things further after her teeth elongate and predatory sunk into warm flesh.

"Undine..." Erik groaned with a rumble in his throat. His chest heaved and he could feel a tightness pulling against the fabric of his trousers. 

"I know," She sighed, reluctantly drawing back. If she tugged him further he'd fall straight in. Not that either would be so concerned with this necessarily.   
With only gently kisses and haughty nibbles of flesh, Erik bid her their last goodbye in Paris. 

The mermaid glanced down at the porcelain in her hands. A parting item Erik asked her to keep until the journey's end. 

She cradled the mask, tracing the eye piece along the tip of her finger. His eyes held such stories. One, brown and earthly as that of the soil and sand of the sea and land. But it's twin was a wild hue, it reminded Undine of the sunshine's light that lingered below the surface barrier of the sea, the water's edge becoming a crystal blue.

Undine sighed, staring down at the mask. She wished, longed for the wish to bring Erik to her world. To show him the deep depths to where she would dwell below land and the beauty of the sea that she knew and adored.

But to do that would be his undoing, and he would lose so much. And to do so to him would be a devastating blow to both of them. Her heart felt as though it were being squeezed as she and her porcelain treasure disappeared below into the evening water.

\--

The Phantom was not known to express fear, but Erik felt an uneasy shudder pass through him weaving through the crowd. 

A final goodbye to his beloved sanctuary under the opera and he had arrived above ground, awaiting a carriage with Madame Giry. 

"I can only give you direction, I'd rather not leave Meg asking more questions if I accompanied you." She stated. "But I arranged a carriage. It's a simple schooner, enough that you won't draw unwanted eyes and to get you to Cherbourg."

Erik nodded, he did not do well with goodbyes-at least not sincere ones. And he did feel in debt to her for this task on his behalf.

"Madame," He called as she made her leave when the driver approached.

"Yes?" 

"If you enter Box 5, you'll find a parting gift for your efforts to me these past years." Erik advised. "Consider it gratitude."

She studied his eyes from beneath his bandages, but found no deceit on his part. She nodded solemnly. 

"Thank you," 

In a strange way, seeing the carriage pull away, she was going to miss the masked menace. A little bit.

Meanwhile, the carriage ride with his two trunks of luggage felt uneventful but long. His mismatch eyes stared ahead, trying to pay no mind to the busy Parisian streets. Waltzing out into broad daylight alone was not a comfortable or familiar situation. 

But very little paid him any mind. His drab cap-a sad downgrade from his more prestigious fedora-was dipped low, so as only very few eyes paid the bandages around his head a glance. 

Erik came upon where the Medea was docked. A simple schooner, not a dingy by any means but still nothing to boast about. A low profile means of transport was what Erik needed, interest in hunting down the murderous Phantom would die the further away he ventured from the city.

"Papers?" The bored middle aged man asked, Erik could smell the vague hint of alcohol on his breath. Rummaging through the worn waistcoat, he handed him the approved papers for boarding. 

"Mercy man, what happened to you?" The man hoarsely asked glancing at Erik from under the cap.

A twinge of panic rose up at the inquiry, however Erik did not yield and merely played along. 

"Shrapnel sir," He spoke in a lower register, laced with a gruffness. "1870, at the Saint Cloud during the bombardment." 

The greying man shook his head with a scowl, "Those damn Prussians"

Erik nodded, "Bastards indeed"

Handing back the boarding papers, he nodded to Erik. "You're clear to board sir."

Silently the Phantom gave his thanks and hiked aboard the vessel with trunk in tow. Stowing the accompanying luggage in the cargo hold, Erik kept the case holding his violin at his side. 

The sun was still so high in the horizon, he craved for the safety of the dark and when at last he could play their song. 

\--

Free to explore her realm of the water again, it was all the more liberating to find companionship again during her hunting the day after Erik's voyage began. 

They found each other whilst concealed among a growing colony of orange coral. The school of loach was forgotten when Undine laid eyes on her friend making a direct dive for her, her newly found freedom fueling her girlish excitement. 

Though Undine was certainly delighted to see her, it was joy short lived at the disbelief when she told her companion of what she had been doing in the months she'd been encased away.

"A human?! Do you understand what you've done doing this?" The kelp green haired mermaid gaped. 

While the accusing banter was scornful, it was a comfort to speak her own tongue. At times the land dwelling language Erik spoke-to which she heard him call 'French'-was quite exhausting. But her initial excitement discussing Undine's latest adventure's was gradually deflating. 

Undine scowled, "I'm not a child Shira! But I'm not concerned for consequences right now."

Shira's lavender tail twitched, swimming to catch alongside Undine's. 

"Don't ignore this, it's quite serious! Just letting humans see us is dangerous."

"He's different," This earning a scoff from her companion. "His voice is just so drawing, I need it. Erik's music just calls to mine. It's nothing I've heard a land dweller sing before."

Shira's grey ashen eyes softened. "But it just sounds so strange."

"I know."

The purple tailed maiden stopped, and her eyes narrowed. "You didn't... Did you?"

Undine could not help the edges of her mouth that curved upward. 

Shira's mouth was agape. "You MATED?! You've gone passed every boundary placed before us. Mad you're becoming! I know how long it's been since you had-"

"Do not mention that." Undine's eyes turning cold. "I was blind and naive, my eyes currently are wide and open." 

Undine's companion huffed, crossing her arms. Mating with a human wasn't unheard of but a completely frowned upon tradition. And at that to be intimately close with such a human was even worse. 

"Does this mean you'll go through with purging?" She asked, a twinge of hope in her voice. Purging would allow her friend and this human a way around such a taboo. 

Undine's teal tail seemed to curl in on itself uncomfortably at Shira's words, and at the sudden enthusiasm in her voice. 

"I don't know..."

Shira shrugged, "I can't see what else you can do, I've never heard of any such pairbond with a human to last solely if they remain human."

"But I know what will happen. I can't fathom causing him pain, or to go so fatally far. He has memories I just know he would rather forget, but I don't want his memories of us to fade away."

The purple tailed maiden shook her head, "This is dangerous."

"I don't need to be told what I already know. I didn't mean for this to happen."

"I'm sure you didn't" Shira nodded. "I don't like this."

"You don't have to."

"But it's important to you."

"He is."

Shira hummed aloud, "Erik... Strange names they have up there."

Undine nodded, swimming down towards the coral she had taken refuge in. Reaching in she pulled to her the porcelain mask before rejoining the mermaid that glanced preplexed at the object. 

"Strange..."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fun little fact, the banter between Erik and the boarding man is regarding the Seige of Paris during the Franco Prussian War conflict between 1870 and 1871.


	13. Chapter 13

So easily it was to pull Erik under the waves. Undine's hands pulled away his mask and reached down to grip his lapels, her lips intertwined with his. Fully immersed, she had since shirked away the wig and ran a hand through the grey tuffs of hair. 

She paid little mind when the bubbles of air began to rise from his malformed lips. If anything she pulled him down closer, only craving more from those inviting pillow lips. 

Undine's arms intertwined around him, swimming further and further below. The air bubbles became bigger, Erik's mismatch eyes cracking open with a bewildering look of alarm that normally held calm reprieve. His lungs craving the air they were being deprived and needed. 

But the mermaid refused to let him go.

Pushing him down toward the seabed below, his arms flailed helplessly for an impossible means of reaching the far, unattainable surface. 

Undine's nails dug into his back, a large burst of air escaping his mouth. His eyes a silent plea to her for help. Her breath against his ear, and her song filling his head. A song that was so alluring and distracting, that the numbness overtaking Erik's body was forgotten and non existent. The language she sang was foreign and uncomprehending to his land dwelling ears.

His back was forcefully pressed against the murky floor of the water, despite the size ratio difference, the unmasked man felt overpowered and his strength gradually leaving him. 

Undine's song radiated along the sea floor. He barely registered the weeds of sea kelp that began to sprout to life, intertwining and binding his limbs. Her nails tore at the fine fabric, his suit jacket already shirked away, the dress shirt now in torn tatters. 

Streaks of red stained the water, her talon like nails piercing skin leaving the man with abrasions that only worsened and continued to spread. 

Fingers curved around his throat, his malformed lips agape and their color naturally a wine stained burgundy began to fade, dulling to a blue grey complexion. Undine's free hand grasp the wispy tuffs of hair, pulling him in for a final kiss as the last bubbles of breath escaped him. 

Erik's body no longer trembled but stilled. Undine's fingers released him, and gently caressed his misshapen face, cradling him close. She could already feel the pull of his fabric against the sea kelp, it had already begun moments after his heart had slowed. 

The slacks material tearing away and belt snapping where limbs that were bound appeared to fuse. She held his larger hand in hers, glancing down at the calloused musician fingers Undine could see the webbing that began to form between the digits. The cuts and abrasions closing up to give way to peaking scales. 

The kelp that bound him peeled away as though a cocoon were pierced or a second skin being shed. And seeing the grey blue tail that emerged where legs had once been, the land dwelling mortal coil had indeed been literally shed.

His blue brown eyes peaked open as she called at for him to wake up. 

"Erik..." Undine pleaded, "Please remember."

He stared up at her, and she felt his tail pat against the sea bed. She smiled, hoping to see some glimmer of remembrance. 

But the tender glow that his eyes possessed looking into hers was gone. They were neither sad or resentful, but filled with confusion and had seemed to dull and fade in a single gaze. 

The lack of recognition of her in his eyes caused her more pain than anything physical that could be endured. And there was no turning back from this decision. He would never know anymore just how much she loved him.

\--

Undine gasped awake, a shrieking wail escaping her lips. A turtle swimming past was spooked by her cry and made way in the opposite direction. 

She ran her coarse nails through her hair, the same nightmare had haunted her since Shira's suggestion. 

Of course while the majority of her kind were naturally birthed, there was another way. However, purging was a dangerous transformation for a human, even for what were considered the strongest of land dwellers. And if they survived the change, they would possess no comprehension of who they once were. No past, no name, no memory, it was a slate wiped clean and had unintentionally insured merfolks secrecy for centuries. 

But the thought of Erik forgetting her, and just as terrible that she would have to go through with killing him to change him so, was too terrifying to imagine.

It was a pity that she could not sprout legs herself, join him on the land. But she'd be lying to herself if Undine tried to say it would not shake her deeply to leave her home. The land scared her, so much uncertainty, Erik was the only thing above the waves she was certain of. But if there were a method to change human, she knew nothing of such a thing existing, the idea was quite moot. 

She swam out of her hiding cove among the coral, Undine had been tempted to join Shira with her hunting party, she was departing to return the day they had reunited. But the water grew darker, and she needed to make quick time on catching up with Erik's ship. 

The sun above had long since dived below the horizon, the sky a dark haze hue. Just below to surface Undine swam, unsure and scared how far adrift he had gotten ahead of her.

Seeing him on two legs would safely put her mind at ease. 

\--

She hadn't arrived the first night, but Erik had expected this. He had still stayed up late in the night playing that special song. Just as he was now, the rest of the ship overcome with sleep and the ship creaking as it bobbed up and down between the growing waves. 

Tonight he had a feeling she would come, he had this feeling the night before as well. But this night he was sure. 

It would be much easier though if he could shake off the young man that seemed to become a second shadow.

"Can I help you, monsieur?" Erik asked rather annoyed. 

The boy shuffled nervously, "I'm sorry! Sorry, you just play really well."

"Thank you," He mumbled, his mismatch eyes glancing out at the sea. 

"Have you played very long?"

"Very."

"Do you play more than the violin? My brother is quite good with his hand at the fiddle actually..." The boy laughed, nervously babbling.

Erik rolled his eyes, would this boy's endless questions ever cease?

"I'm... I'm Beau Belise," He introduced. "I was hired aboard the ship brand new. Must make my room and board somehow. Who are you?"

"Erik..." He trailed off. What was he to say? Decades of solitude trailing by he could not even comprehend what his name had been. This boy was so pretentious and nosing his way into business that it didn't belong. 

He reminded the musician so much of that pudgy journalist poking his eyes and ears behind closed doors since the chandelier crash. What was the man's name? Lebron? Lemarc?

"Leroux. Erik Leroux." The bandaged man nodded solemnly. This name would do for now, he rather liked the sound of it.

"G-Good to make your acquaintance sir," Beau nodded eagerly. 

"Quite," As soon as this boy took his leave off the deck, the sooner Erik could play for his sea maiden in hiding.

"The night air of the ocean is great isn't it?" The young man breathed.

Erik held back a sigh of derision. "It really is."

"My girl back home could never stomach it, she's a fragile little thing." Beau paused, "Do you have a girl, Leroux?"

Erik's mismatch eyes softened. "I do yes. She loves the sea, you could say she's one with it."

"She sounds lovely."

The musician could not help but muse about Undine and her angelic voice and beauty. "She's an absolute goddess."

Beau laughed, "Aren't they all? I've been working on a letter I'm sending my Adalene when we make port." 

Nodding Erik stared out toward the blackness. 

"I... I suppose I should turn in to be alert for my morning post." The boy nervously shuffled. "Have a good night Erik."

"Thank you," Erik felt as though he could finally exhale a breath of relief, Already the journey would be exhausting enough alone across the Atlantic. In truth Erik had been going out of his way traveling by sea having to board the vessel far outside of Paris borders-albeit still cautious. But even disguised it was a much larger risk for the Phantom to travel by coach or another land transportation. 

Albeit tired, he was finally alone at last. The musician poised his bow and allowed the music to soar.

"Who knows when love begins?" Erik sang, "Who knows what makes it start? One day it's simply there... Alive inside your heart." 

The violin joyously wept harmoniously with his voice. 

"It slips into your thoughts, it infiltrates your soul. It takes you by surprise, then seizes full control."

Erik's eyes that had fallen closed, lifted open hearing a beautiful hum rising from below. They softened seeing a blonde mop of hair resurface, the sea maiden arose just up to the peak of her bare bosom from the black waves. 

"I wish you wouldn't stop on my account," Undine smiled. "It's beautiful." 

"It's for you. You've been what's filled my muse and inspiration. Undine..."

She wanted nothing more but to untangle those bandages and kiss his pillowed lips. "Erik..."

He leaned forward against the side of the ship, despite the two being so far out of reach. 

"Please," She called. "Just a little more?"

His face that was not concealed by heavy gauze lifted in a look of pure joy to see the approval in her eyes. 

Clearing his throat, he continued.

"Try to deny it, and try to protest. But love won't let you go... once you've been possessed."

Ever since they'd met, Erik had felt possessed by the music. And by something he never thought he'd truly know, but felt absolutely overwhelm him. He was the one that was struck with fear, his own words swimming through his head. Fear can turn to love...

"Love never dies, love never falters. Once it has spoken, love is yours. Love never fades, love never alters. Hearts may get broken, love endures. Hearts may get broken... love endures."

He lowered the bow and violin. 

"The melody is finished, but the song is incomplete." He said.

Undine's eyes were glistening, she grasped at the netting trailing down the side of the ship, tempted to drag her body up the side hull. "Erik, that was wonderful. I want so much more of it, and so much more of you."

Erik nodded, his heart hammering in his chest.

"Promise you will continue it." She stated.

"I will make it my duty to complete it, if that is what you wish."

"I do." 

No real words were expressed or required for the remainder of the evening, only the companionship of each other in the dark night and the smell of sea air.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So throughout the story I have been researching various cultures mermaid folklore. One mytho in particular mentions that mermaids/mermen can be created by other merfolk dragging a human down to their death and the human awaking as a mermaid/merman. But they have no memory of their human life or past memories. 
> 
> I'm sure many of you can guess just who that nosy journalist in Paris was ;)
> 
> And it seems Erik has a new aria he's been working on, I wonder if it sounds familiar to anybody? 
> 
> I do love feedback <3


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Big thank you to everyone that's been following the story and for every one of the kind kudos! Special thanks to the recent comments and compliments by larissaberstein, MelissaRod00, and helloitskrisha!

For days Erik felt plagued with stomach pain and green in his cheeks. Sea sailing was clearly not the life for the musician and he was relieved that in just another days time they would make port. 

To tell the truth, he was not exactly looking forward to seeing Rouen again. The city wasn't filled with any memories that brought the man joy. Was his mother even still alive? Not that he'd care to see her if she was. Given he had never once celebrated birthdays-even as a boy-Erik wasn't quite certain his exact age. He assumed he was well within his forties, so it wasn't a very likely chance that his mother lived still. 

Regardless of her if his old home was vacant, perhaps it would make for a temporary hideout until Erik could secure a more oceanic home. He wanted to be nothing more than as close as he could be with his sea maiden. Somewhere close to the coast, perhaps a cottage out of the way from civilization. 

The sooner he could get some privacy and off this boat the better. For some reason the young sailor Beau was absolutely hyper fixated on the bandage faced man. Why he had absolutely no idea, but he trailed after him like a lost dog when not attending to the sailing masts.

Fortunately the boy seemed to leave him alone by the time the moon was up late in the night. The opportune time of night to partake in a song for Undine. 

Her voice echoed his song since the night of his voyage that he gave her a sampling of it. 

Hearing her siren song arise from the depths, it compelled Erik with a stronger urge to let go of the rope and dive into the deep to her. Somewhere however he had a will power to stop his body from doing what his mind screamed for him to do. 

The last evening of the voyage he was disappointed to hear nothing beyond the crash of waves. 

Erik did not find the lack of her presence unusual of course, they'd had two close calls on the duration of the journey in which Undine had disappeared beneath the water on the sound of foreign voices. 

Nevertheless he sat up against the rail all night until the hues of yellow and pink peaked over the horizon. 

His eyes rimmed with dark circles, he hauled the trunk and violin case up from the cargo hull. 

Erik could hear the seagulls up ahead upon the port docks caw obnoxiously. Keeping his cap low, he dragged the trunk down the steps.

"Need a hand?" A voice chirped, Erik having to suppress a groan.

He tried to wave the boy away, but he felt a strong arm lift the opposing side of the trunk. 

"Really I insist Erik," Beau smiled eagerly, "Besides, I have the day to enjoy on land before we sail out again!"

"Well it's going to be a long journey for me actually."

"Where to?"

Erik sighed, "Rouen if you must know."

"I've never been that far, maybe I could help?"

The musician chuckled, "As I... appreciate this I'm quite apt to do this myself."

As while he had provided Madame Giry with a very grateful sum for her efforts to him-more than enough to support she and her little Meg for years to come-Erik had much of his 'salary' stored away over the years. His funds would be more than sufficient to get him where he needed to go. 

Erik sighed, setting his side of the luggage down, he had to say something to be rid of the boy.

"If you must, I would require a coach." Removing a stack of notes from his undercoat, he handed them to the young sailor. "Tell the driver he will get the rest when we reach Rouen."

Beau gaped at the wad of money, "Mercy me! How did you acquire so much money?"

"I have my reasons."

The boy paled, "You didn't... well....steal it? Or-"

Erik waved his hand, "Oh for heaven's sake relax! It's... inheritance."

The much younger man nodded, "Good, very good. I can help figure something out!"

"Just, why exactly are you helping me?" His good brow quirked in confusion at the estrange act of kindness.

"You're doing this for that girl aren't you?"

Erik froze, had they not been careful enough? "I'm sorry?"

"You know, the one you told me about. Your goddess, remember?" Beau winked.

"Ah, ah yes. I... Yes I do. This... This has been for her. I left the home I knew to be with her."

"Exactly know how that feels I'll say. Which is why I want to help you get to your girl, she must miss you something terrible."

Erik's mismatch eyes softened, "I hope she does."

\--

He awoke to iron bars. Erik's groggy eyes opened wide to the dark. Living underground for years on end he could easily make out the surroundings of the cage. 

A horrible feeling in his gut overcame him. It was just like the traveling fair so many years before. He could already hear the screeching of the foreign animals-and the knockoffs they played off as exotic-locked up in not dissimilar cages. The other oddities groaning in restless tiring sleep, some feigning the act unable to allow their bodies to relax for even a moment. 

A woman that stretched this way and that, a man with a thick goatee able to conjure smoke with his bare hands, siamese twins with the ability to control serpents to their every whim. 

And one of their most prized attractions; the unmasked freak possessing but half the face of a man, and the other of a beast. 

Erik could feel his heart race, the need to find the means to escape overwhelming him. So much so realizing his face was uncovered. Any moment someone could walk in on him. The taunting, the laughter, the physical torture and torment.

Before the unmasked man could get any such chance, his hands clamped over his eyes as piercing blinding lights sparked to life. 

Chattering and shrieks resounded when the ringleader walked in. He was just as disgusting and conniving as Erik's memory allowed him. 

"Now now pets. Be polite tonight." He chuckled, the gold filling in his mouth gleamed in the aggravating light as he smiled beneath a thick mustache.

Erik felt pathetic, backing up to the rear of the cage as a fearful animal would. 

"We have a special treat tonight, a new play thing that flopped up on deck this evening. And we should all make sure to give her a warm welcome."

Erik's ears burned at the screech that tore at his ears. But what ached more than his hearing was something else.

He knew that sound. 

The unmasked man's fear was shirked aside, seeing the familiar teal tail, dragged in to the tent through the dirt.

"Undine!" He all but screamed

The mermaid flailed and hissed, clawing at the brutish lackeys. One of the balding gorilla bulked men, shoved a meaty fist into her hair. 

"She's too loud," The giant palooka groaned, "Maybe she wants to sleep boss."

"Oh no. No, this beautiful creature is quite awake." The ringleader seemed unfazed by her cries. "But she is causing quite a stir with the other pets."

"I say we sew her shut, with this body she doesn't need a mouth." The other meaty handed lunk sneered.

Anger bubbled inside Erik, his blood positively boiling at the insults and threats. He'd see the men hanging by their entrails if they so much as sullied Undine or her voice. 

But the only horror was his upon hearing that slimy chuckle.

"Now now, no need to be rude." The ring master sauntered to the sea maiden, wheezing for both the water and from her screeching. "She certainly needs that pretty mouth. That tongue however tsk tsk tsk, I'm not interested in chatter in my show. 

He lifted her chin with a finger. "After all my dear, what's idle prattle for?"

Undine snapped pincer teeth at his finger, just missing the digit and in response to her action being pulled back by her hair. 

"Sounds like she agrees," He sneered, a knife unsheathed and extended in his hand.

Helpless to do anything from behind the bars and no means of reaching her, Erik was forced to watch the thick headed thugs pull the sea maiden's head back, forcing her jaw open.

The ring master's knife glinted in the light before pressing down against her tongue.

\--

Erik was soaked in sweat when his mismatch eyes snapped open. He started up instantly, scanning his surroundings. 

No cage, no circus tent, no ring master. 

He was still in the carriage, having since departed Sherbourg and with what little luggage he had. Dusk was just settling outside, and no one was aware of the Phantom's whereabouts. He was safe. 

But Undine! Undine, was she?

Erik scrutinized his scattered train of thought, of course she was! It was only a dream, and neither of them was caged in that hellish fairground.

To think his imagination would conjure up something so warped and twisted. The thought of any such defilement coming to Undine made his stomach churn. 

He hadn't had much appetite whilst at sea, and now sleep was impossible. He only hoped the remaining journey was a short one. Safe enough away from the expanse of Paris and it's neighboring eyes and ears, it was safe enough to remove his bandages. However, a teal tailed sea maiden still possessed his favored half mask. But in the very least he had his cloth mask to use in substitute. Rouen was far enough from Paris that a mask would not arise unwanted suspicion. 

And his black mask adorned, he found the carriage coming to a slow. The city certainly hadn't changed over the decades. Still a sleepy eyed town with very little to peak the interested eye of a passing traveler, save for a nearby inn to stay for the night. 

Barely anyone paid the masked man interest as he dragged the trunk and case along with him. 

Erik remembered this road, enough to know just whom lived here. Or at least who use to. 

He could see the lights were out in the house, despite the sun having just set. Plant life had gone wild and ran up across the siding of the tiny home. 

If it were abandoned, Erik could slip in and hide out as long as needs be. Surely if he kept a low profile no one would even notice he were there. Besides, it wasn't as though he intended to stay long. Just enough to get his bearings and travel down toward Normandy. 

The masked man shuddered. Just some awful sensation in his gut felt wrong. Something was not settling right with him. 

All he needed was to see Undine again. He would find somewhere out of the way, he was a creature of habit and was accustom to solitude. Perhaps somewhere that even from inside he could hear the crashing of waves. Close enough to the sea that he could hear her wondrous voice from outside an open window. 

The lock was simple enough to pick as glancing about him, Erik stepped with light footfalls inside. 

\--

In a matter of days Erik had made his way up to Normandy. 

He had no further business in Rouen, in a discreet fashion he had since learned the house had been empty for two years after his loathsome mother had died. Just as well, it's not as though he expected her to be happy to see him if she were still alive.

Erik had made his presence very unknown, not a soul had suspected anyone inside the overgrown house. Nor did they even notice when he left just as quickly as he'd made his stay. 

Every night he was away from Undine he just had this urge to return where the water rose and tide rolled in. It were as if someone were tugging on an invisible string, pulling him back.

He traveled alone and without his baggage the day after settling in Rouen. His clothes while not as immaculate as those prepared for the opera, were an advanced step from the sailing garbs he wore on the Medea. If Erik was going to talk the means of property, it would certainly help to look presentable. 

The cloth mask did earn unwanted but not unexpected attention. But nothing he should be concerned about, if anything it served as an additional means to his story. 

"Quite a dreadful diagnosis Monsieur," Erik expressed with feigned sorrow. "Rest assured it is not contagious but quite terminal. And I feel this lodging would be a quiet suitable sea side home for the last of my twilight years."

"Yes, well I'm very sorry to hear of your plight Monsieur Leroux." The balding gentleman opposite the table nodded, "While I would be very hesitant to sign off given you're not expecting much more years to come.   
On the other hand, your generous advanced payment is quite a difficult gesture to say no to."

Erik had anticipated this and going off the human nature of want and greed had offered a sizable advance up front. Clearly the masked man was wise in this decision. 

"Shall we say Tuesday I shall have your finalized papers?" The man asked, extending his hand to shake. 

"I should say that sounds delightful." 

And here he now was days later. The sun was up at its peak on a bright blue day, Erik had since removed the black overcoat. The sand was not very kind to his dress shoes, what did shine like mirrors now was coated with tiny yellow brown specks.

The cottage was not overly special or too ordinary, it was small but cozy enough to not feel so boxed in. 

The interior was worn with age, but not to the point of irreparable. The sun peaked in through the cracks of heavy drapes. This cottage was quite the opposite of his dimly lit lair five cellars below. That home now abandoned and without an owner, and this abandoned cottage gaining a new master to restore some of its sullied youth. 

What's more the tiny home by the sea overlooked the beach and the waves overseeing it. It was the perfect way point. Perfect for the two of them. 

Erik wondered just what she was doing now? Where she was right now as he placed the trunk and violin case by the front door. The musician missed his mermaid.

Last they spoke was the day before his last night at sea. Erik hadn't been at a point to say exactly where his new home would be, but enough to give them in a matter of speaking a meeting point and time. 

Unclasping the locks on his case, Erik opened it to take hold of the violin's neck and the bow in his opposite hand. Undoing the the string lacing of his mask, he let his face be bare to the sea side coast stepping outside. Undine preferred to see his face, the only one that ever did.

It was along this coast that they would reunite just as the sun dipped along the horizon, but which beach he was not sure. Perhaps if he played long enough Undine would hear it from below the waves. 

His bare feet made contact and submerged in the yellow sand, it felt warm and grainy pressing in between his toes.

Poising his violin, Erik sang aloud. Their special song, to which he'd promised and made good on his promise to complete it. But he refused to sing the rest until she appeared. He could not echo the finalized words without her ears being the first audience to it.

His song went well into the dusk and until nighttime rose. Erik frowned, not all was lost. He had to reassure him this so. Not let that low voice in his mind get the better of him.

'What if she left you?' That annoying nag in his head droned 'What if she is bored of you? She doesn't want a human mate. She's come to her senses and abandoned you.' 

Erik growled hearing these voices, silencing them to the back of his estranged mind. But the entirety of the night, attempting to sleep he felt a tugging urge. Something he hadn't foreseen or asked for keeping him awake. He scratched at the marks on his throat. Undine's rather aggressive love bites were an angry red, but until now had given the masked man no issue. But tonight they burned, his hands clawing against the marks.

The second day he would play until his fingers gave out. 

To which Erik did just this. Fortunately, his hands did not give to toiling hours of playing. His ears perked just as the pink and yellow hues of dusk gave way. A splash in the quiet water was becoming a welcome sound. 

He continued to sing, but his mismatch eyes scanned the water, his arm growing stiff from holding the instrument to his chin for so many hours. 

Erik all but dropped the violin seeing a large tail flap about in the water.

"Undine?" He called.

While he got no verbal response, he saw the tail's silhouette splash again.

Setting the instrument in the open case, he ran barefoot through the sand and into the cool sea water. He could see a bob of long hair poke out of the water, already up to his knees, Erik waded out further. 

"Undine! Please," Erik pleaded.

But bobbing through the water he stopped, noticing that all too familiar sea maiden was not so familiar. 

Where hair that was cascading should have been blonde was a deep green, the fins sprawled in the water were not teal but violet. 

Yet, despite this foreign sea beauty she had in her hand something that rose more concern than her presence. 

"You... Erik, yes?" She asked, struggling with the man made language.

He nodded, his good brow rose in confusion. 

She held out the half porcelain mask, "Yours."

He glanced down at the mask and back at her, his heart a flutter when panic began to arise. "Where did you get this? Where is she? Why doesn't Undine have it?"

The mermaid nodded, "She say you call her that. Undine."

"Did you hurt her?" He snatched the mask back, quickly his defenses raised.

"I am friend, a friend for her. She is why you aren't already dead." While spoken in broken language, the mermaid said this as a matter of fact. "She need you."

Erik could feel a lump in his throat as if he'd just swallowed a rock. "Where is Undine?"

"She's in trouble."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Indeedy it would not be a sea siren story without a Little Mermaid reference. In this case two! One of which being one of Ursula's quotes from the Disney version when the ring master is taunting Undine. The other being of the Hans Christian story, as in the original the titular mermaid doesn't just verbally sell her voice for legs, but her tongue is actually cut out (fortunately for Erik the nightmare ended there!)


	15. Chapter 15

While being pulled under the water by Undine had become quite habitual, the hands that grabbed at him were not as kind. 

Erik scowled seeing more than one merfolk forcibly holding him. They spoke in that foreign dialogue of hisses and tongue clicks. 

"I say we just do away with this and kill him, he was foolish enough to rush out into the dropoff." Sneered a merman sporting dark hair along his head and chin and a striking red tail.

Shira shook her head, "Brio stop it."

"How can we trust him? For all we know, he's partly responsible." Brio scoffed, "A human, ridiculous. Put him down out of his misery already is what I say."

"We can't do that, not now." Another male, while whom had a head of sandy blonde hair swam about with a familiar tail of teal.

Erik tried to shrug the merfolk's advancing hand away, he tugged at the musician's collar pulling on it. Prying a button open, he exposed the reddened marks on Erik's throat. Brio hissed at the sight well familiar to all of them.

"It's her mark, I can sense it." Shira as if unable to believe it herself. "She has claimed him, and while he bears that we cannot do anything to him. We have to abide the tradition"

Brio growled, releasing Erik's arm, while Shira still grasping the other pulled the man up for air. 

Erik coughed resurfacing, frustration and panic apparent in his face-at least the exposed portion since re-applying his half mask.

"I want answers if you would be so kind," He asked through gritted teeth. A burn of desperation possessed him, demanding he find out where Undine was."

"Sor...ry. They make sure you're trusting. And you are hers. They can see now." Shira staggeringly explained. "She-Undine you call-is gone."

"Gone? What do you mean gone?! She's not dead, is she?!" Erik demanded, grasping the mermaid's arm. 

Brio hissed in distaste seeing the land dweller man handle her. But Shira silenced the merman, batting at him with her lavender tail. 

"No, you would know were she. But something bad happen. She didn't join hun..ting party."

"What can I do? What can be done?"

"Only you can know that, we can't do anything."

Erik frowned, "And just how am I to, I don't know how or where to look."

Brio shook his head, humans were so naive and thick headed. 

"You'll find her," The sandy haired male said, "I know this, she's marked you, that will hold meaning."

Erik's fingers grazed over the bumpy wound on his throat.

"Not what I mean," The merman smirked. 

Left alone in the water as the trio sank into the deep, Erik was stumbling back onto the sand, the tide rolling in. 

Just what had happened to the sea maiden he had such desperation to see, moreover to hear. And with no idea where Undine went or where they trail was hot, how on earth was the Phantom able to locate her. 

What little sleep he got was restless, his dreams were a blank slate. That plagued moreso than the nightmares, too much uncertainty.

He would go out to the seaside, his slacks rolled up and toes buried in sand, violin poised and in hand he would play. Maybe she needed to hear the music. Perhaps that's what they meant. 

But three days of this wen by, with only the roar of waves as a response.

Erik had once said Christine alone was the only one to make his song take flight. But where she had made it fly, Undine allowed his song to soar down from the sky and into the blue depths of the ocean. 

He just needed to find where in that deep blue she could be.

\--

Whether it be below a Paris opera house or at a seaside cottage, the manic artist in Erik could not be contained. 

Perhaps Undine's disappearance built on that, the sleepless nights that is. The masked man hated the nonsensical blank dreams he'd been having. At least if he had his music to work on, this would lead to an artistic distraction. 

It was after the second night of late composing that the notes seemed to string together and intertwine. They just seemed to gel and mold together in a bombastic harmony. 

Erik's hand twitched and he clenched his palms. The notes seemed to dance and collide in his head, as though leading him down a trail with their musical line segment. He'd felt compelled and inspired, but not to this extent. This vision sprung to life in his mind, like a madman he frantically dug for fresh parchment. Finding none Erik resorted to hastily scribbling the notes on the wall. 

The segments began to morph and shift in his head and onto the wall, hours later he saw a fuller picture that made sense only to him. 

And that picture he realized was waves shifting and colliding along the treble clef, the sounds of the ocean far out beyond shore. The stanza climbed down and down toward a formation morphing into a tail.

Even if Erik truly were on the precipice of going mad, this was too much of a coincidence to interpret as mere delusion. This was a hymn, one of which sounded divine and ever calling Erik out to the sea. Calling him out to Undine wherever she may be. 

Erik did have a way of finding his sea maiden it seemed; the music was leaving him a bread crumb trail. How much longer he had to follow this trail he wasn't certain. 

\--

Her vocal cords ached, tight and disposed to only sharp wheezing. Undine had to the discontent of her captors wailed out with a territory and panicked screech for hours. But her voice couldn't take so much turmoil, designed for songs and not screams.

The water in the makeshift tank was murky, dirty, and so closed off from the ocean. The open sea was so close but so far, she laying separated from it between the barrier of the manmade vessels wooden haul. 

When she hadn't been shrieking, she'd been attempting to sing. But so far from the two only loves she knew of, her vocals failed to reach past the roaring waves. It left Undine in a vulnerable state. Without the ocean's embrace and protection, she could not so easily lure these men to sudden death as her voice would have had the just radius to. 

And the muse for song was lost without one man that she realized made existing difficult without. 

She had been quicker than Erik, reaching the port he was bound for. She had no choice but to wait. She would sing aloud their special song, one that set her soul ablaze and heart a flutter. 

So much so that perhaps she became too lost in the melody to be physically ensnared. 

It was unclear whether or not the men on the schooner had intended to wrangle in a mermaid, but realizing their catch was much larger than a school of tuna they weren't about to let it go. And her new captors were certainly unyielding to release her now.

Realizing just what prize they had tangled in their nets and dragged aboard the ship, greedy eyes feasted on the woman that screeched, tail flailing about on the deck. 

Now Undine didn't know where the ship was taking her, and the further adrift they were she was more scared than she'd ever known of such uncertainty. 

'I'm sorry,' She wept to herself with silent tears, 'I'm sorry Erik.'

She could hear his songs in her head, aching to hear the notes roll off his tongue and pass from his pillowy lips. How she ached to taste those lips again. 

In the little rest she could take, it was only filled with music. The violin strokes alongside that of tide rolling in onto a beach. A voice that evaded and penetrated the howling cold sea winds. And how Undine longed for her own voice to intertwine and join his again. Their song a constant and a small shred of hope she had left. Could he hear it now?

If only for a moment she yearned to sing for Erik, her mate, her love one last time.

\--

Erik hadn't eaten or slept in two days. He continued through the rough expanse of blue, a wind was rolling in, tempting the growing grey clouds up in the heavens. 

The masked man convinced a port side fisherman for a modest price, passage on his vessel in need of a boat for his search.  
He only had another day before the fisher would be rolling back to port, and through the songs that Erik scrawled on whatever free surface he could find, it led him to another ship of importance. One where songs and screeches had deafened the air. 

"I'd steer clear after hearing stories of ghostly wails," The old sailor crowed, "Just as well too, ship's likely heading out for land across the channel."

"You're certain?" Erik asked with peaked interest. If there was a ship sailing with inhuman shrieks coming from aboard, it felt quite similar to hearing the same deafening cries when he had played for Undine the organ. "You heard these noises?"

"I'd have to see the vessel myself but yes. Heard the shifty bugger aboard had some new 'precious cargo' that washed up. Is gonna get a good fortune for his cash in America from what I understand it before he took off for sea again."

"America?!" The masked man was flabbergasted. "I need to find it, tonight."

The man ran a hand through his greying beard, "Sounds like a fools errand, already been looking for days for it, haven't we? Not that I know why you'd want to find it so badly."

"I have my-" 

Erik was interrupted however by the crack of thunder rolling in. The boat rocked violently against waves which had only just begun to roar. 

"Storms coming fast,"

"We can't turn back now!"

The fisherman scowled, "It's a lost cause you have, it'd be suicide to stay out here any longer."

Erik glanced down to the dark waters below, his urge to follow their song more and more tantalizing. 

He had already lost once, and did not intend to lose again, even if it costed him his life. 

The man shouted, running to the end of the deck watching he masked man dive head first into the cold water.

A fools errand indeed, but the masked man padding through the water, with only a faint pull of direction did not consider himself to be a fool. Though perhaps slightly misguided given the circumstances.


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Apologies for the delay. Alot of stuff-health related-has been going on in my life lately. But I'm determined to eventually finish this story and refuse to leave you guys hanging!

Hands wet and slick grasp the netting reigns, hanging off the port bow. How long had Erik been adrift? His body shivered, his vision a blur. His mouth felt terribly dry, already battling the waves the masked man had swallowed several mouthfuls of sea water. 

What little he had learned from Undine to swim seemed just about pointless in the face of massive whipping winds in a hard storm of crashing waves. Yet somehow, the masked man had survived.   
He had assumed being adrift for so long that the ship was a brain fever induced mirage. Quite similar to the prisoners enclosed in his maze of mirrors he'd built in Persia, blindly stumbling for water or shelter that was not there. But swimming towards it, Erik felt his body bump into the massive hull. 

Mirages were not solid to the touch. 

Before he risk being pulled away by the waves or pulled down by any creatures of deep he blindly grabbed, his finger closing around thick rope.

\--

"Why so glum, my sweet?" He was average in appearance-save for his unkempt beard since going out to sea. This man was clearly one of business and not that of a sailor. "We paid top dollar to those no account fishermen."

Undine pretended she couldn't hear him, glancing out at the cracked window. The ocean so close but out of reach.

"They would have likely gutted you and paraded your voluptuous body for filthy minded pions to stare agape at before gutting you on a table. No, no dearie. Where we're going is a safe place, why not put on a happy face for Parker huh?"

She felt a low rumble build and her teeth flashed out in a hiss, but her fingers gripped at the ties bounding her wrists and throat.

Parker sighed, "So ungrateful."

His eyes drank in her body. Of course they lingered on the teal tail, and further up her flat belly, and then for the mermaid's disgusted displeasure staying a little too long over her bosom. 

"Perhaps Percy will let me have a little fun for my work here once we make port."

She snapped her jaws at him as he stepped closer to the tank. 

But rather than recoil he only chuckled, "Now now, save the foreplay for America dearie."

Undine exhaled with relief when after several uncomfortable quiet moments of ogling with his eyes, that her captor took his leave up above. 

Neither of them knew just exactly what was to be expected and awaiting within the shadows of the ship.

\--

It was unusual when the second mate was not at his post. But then again, Connors was an open pissed faced drunk. While it was odd he was tardy, it did not stir up an immediate panic. 

What did however was when the captain came storming in red in his meaty face. 

"We have a situation," He grumbled.

Percy, the captain's client, sighed rather bored and annoyed. "What is it now?"

"First one two of my deck hands go missing and the next I find another hanging off the mast, looking as if he's seen a ghost."

Percy scoffed, "What do you expect me to do about it? I'm not paying your lot to delay my cargo and tell ghost stories."

"Lord man, he looked half dead when I found him."

"Again, I don't quite see how that's my issue. I agreed to pay you half the sum now and the rest when we arrive in America, but you won't see that other half if the delay worsens."

With a scowl, the captain returned to his quarters. The man was an utter bastard, but it was the greatest financial opportunity of his career. Ever still the captain was worried for the crew even if Percy was not. No one even knew save for his shady assistant Parker what was in the cargo hull. Whatever it was was brought aboard from a fishing vessel, but no one not even the captain-despite vigorous protest-was permitted to know just what it was. Only that it was rather big and valuable.

Things only worsened from there. 

Pulling the waterlogged sailor from the water only raised more questioned than it answered. The man was a babbling mess, pale and chilled. The crew merely assumed the sailor had shock from being tossed overboard. Likely saw shadows from his post during the night spooking him into taking a careless step off the ship.

It was a poor and mistaken assumption, but one that everyone accepted at the time. It wasn't until the captain was found knocked out that the crew became on edge. Barely able to speak, the captain wheezed that before he knew what had happened he'd been grabbed and strangled from behind. Whether his assailant intended to let him live or left him alive in error was unknown. 

"Something is aboard this ship."

"Someone you mean."

"Whatever it is!"

Silently Parker and Percy listened in on the crews fears and paranoia.

"You know anything about this?" Percy mumbled.

Parker shook his head, "None. You think they know about the package?"

"Unlikely, they're too clumsy to keep such a secret even among themselves."

"So, you think someone else has joined our little journey? Perhaps another opportunity for us."

"Unless it's after our package."

Percy scowled, "I'm sure you know what to do if it comes to that."

"Of course," Saying this, his bony hand rested over the trigger of the revolver in his pocket. 

\--

Undine wheezed in agony, everything ached yet she had not endured physical pain. But her heart felt so much weaker since being imprisoned here.   
She had wanted to shed tears over her ordeal but her cries would be in vain. Not that anyone that would care would be able to hear them. 

Her ears barely perked in interest hearing the doors to the cargo open. 

"Just making sure my fishy tailed moppet it good and cozy safe." Percy smirked, waltzing down. 

The mermaid refused to give him the satisfaction of acknowledgement. 

"I said," His fingers tightly grasped her chin, forcefully craning her neck. "Are you good and cozy?"

Still, Undine's eyes glassy and cold just stared through him. 

"You look gloomy, maybe a little cheering up is all you need,"

She hissed and flailed feeling the man's waxy lips force themselves on hers, his palms greedily groping her breasts. 

Only after he felt teeth sharp and angry dig into his mouth did Percy retract. Undine wriggled against her restraints, hissing violently. 

"Nasty bitch," He growled as Undine hissed, feral and filled with rage. "With how things are going up top, people turning up missing or mad, hard to say if we'll make it. Maybe it's all your doing, putting them all under your wretched spell. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad if we showed off a body in the very least once we reach land. I'm sure they won't mind that."

Rather than continue their assault on her breasts, those hands made to wrap around Undine's throat. Her hands still bound she could do very little to evade the assault. 

Her vision was hazy, things were going blurry and grey. She didn't want things to end this way, never imagined it for at least another hundred years minimum. But despite her expectations, Undine was able to do nothing to claw away her assailant. 

It was fortunate for the mermaid then that someone else had a free set of hands. 

Undine gasped feeling the airway no longer blocked, her vision still a mangled mess of blurry shapes and colors. One moment there, the next her attacker was being dragged off into a black blur. 

"Undine? Mon dieu what have they put you through my sweet?"

The gasp she exhaled was not from being half strangled to death. It came as pure disbelieving joy seeing a pair of eyes come into her clearing vision, brown and blue.

"Erik?" Her hands pulled violently at her restraints, "Oh please, please is it you Erik?"

His calloused hands ran through her hair-the poor thing looked withered down to even the blonde cascading from her head. 

His answer was all she needed, feeling those pillowy malformed lips over her own.

"I thought you were lost forever." Erik mumbled against her lips, refusing to part.

"I'm sorry, I was so foolish. I should have been more careful waiting for you."

"Why be sorry? Worked out for us I'd say" The two froze hearing the cocking click from behind.

Parker smirked, "Come now, you really thought Percy would be so stupid to come down here alone and not have a look out. I mean, he is pretty stupid since he was so easily disposed of. But hey, I suppose that's more American money for me when we dock." 

Erik looked all but crazed when he'd finally crawled aboard the ship. And fortunate for him, it was all too easy to find a length of rope. 

And while Parker boasted over having the upper hand, he was not the only one to venture down prepared. 

Giving a yank on his side, the trap sprung knocking the wind out of Parker. He growled under his breath, pulling away the rope that entangled his feet. The dull light from a seated lantern flickered as a gust trailed past it. Yanking the binds away, he stood to see only the mermaid in the tank. 

"Where is he?" He barked.

Undine shrugged her shoulders.

"You and him, what did he do! Tell me wench!" Parker demanded. 

A throaty chuckle met his ears, he snapped to his right firing a shot. Undine gasped at the noise, but saw nothing but a dark hole embedded into wood. 

Then the laughter was behind him, and again point and shoot. But no target. 

"Monsieur, I bid you welcome. Did you think that I would harm her?" A disembodied tenor voice spoke, half crazed. 

Parker's hands over the gun twitched, feeling warm and clammy. 

"Why should I make her pay? For the sins which are YOURS!" Erik's hands fastening the rope around Parker's unsuspecting throat from behind. Of course naturally the man's hands went up to his neck, but the noose had already been tightened beyond his control. Not that his thrashing about like a fish out of water would have helped. 

Erik was lost in the moment, the lantern light continued to flicker during the fight. Undine was having a hard time keeping track of what was happening.

"Erik? Erik!" She called fearfully. 

But in the adrenaline filled rush of excitement-all the more filled by the other man's fear-Erik was dormant as the Phantom rose up where he had stood.

His cackle that had once cascaded through an opera house filled every nook in the cargo hull, seemingly everywhere. 

Undine couldn't see anything, the light flaring up too much, the strangled silent cries met her ears. 

Her eyes landed on the dying eyes of Parker only when the lantern was knocked over on its side. Her chest heaved and lips gave out a shriek in the midst of the cackles. The man, hanging from one of the support beams in a futile attempt pulled at the confides of the magical lasso. His eyes bulging and mouth agape with silent croaks. His body thrashed violently for moments before thrashed turn to twitch, and this turned to a limp slump. 

"ERIK" Undine shrieked, feeling panic overcome her. 

A hand on her shoulder caused her to scream again, her tail thrashing wildly. 

"Undine! Please, it's me! It's me!" Erik tried to shush her, her manic green eyes took in his familiar disfigured features. The screeching that painfully filled the room drifted, dying into choked sobs. 

"You... killed... You killed him." She stated this as fact. "He's dead."

Erik nodded, "He is." 

"You aren't.... No you aren't bothered by it."

"He was scum, they would rather parade you about in exchange for dirty money. As if I'd feel-"

"No, the killing." She breathed, her eyes never leaving his brown blue. "The act of killing doesn't bother you."

"I... Undine." Already he was working at her binds, an attempt to both free her and avoid her gaze. "I swear I will recall it all to you. There are many things I wish to tell you. But when we get out of here."

Undine frowned, he was hiding things! "Erik."

"Please." He grasped her hand, rubbing her freed wrist with care. 

"When we return home?" She asked. 

"After we're home."

Reaching in and with the strength he had left after several days of no food, water, or rest Erik hoisted Undine from the grimy tank. Undine craved water, but she felt just as safe in this man's arms. 

He forced his legs up each step, the creaking of the wood boards under his boots. 

Just a few more steps, off the boat. Once Undine was safely released, Erik would untie one of the two lifeboats and they were travel to the Normandy cottage. 

At least this plan would be the most ideal. 

Reaching the ship railing, Erik heaved. 

"Are you alright?" Undine asked, reaching up with her free hand to stroke his gnarled cheek. 

"Perfectly," Erik lied, "I'm more concerned for-"

It all happened in a fast instant. Erik's legs failed him as a familiar pop went off. Undine groaned hitting the deck, her breathing hitched. So much danger and unfamiliarity. She crawled to Erik but he shoved her away. 

"Go! Undine please..." Erik gritted his teeth, clutching his side. "I'll be with you, just go..."

The mermaid's tail slapped against the deck, dragging her torso by her arms to the rails. 

Percy emerged from the smoking hull. Erik had only the time to knock the man out senseless. But as it appeared the lantern had begun kindling a fire in the cargo, the smoke had likely awoken the man up. 

"I may have lost my prize," He sneered madly. "But at least I get this chance to collect my debt for it." 

Hobbling to push Undine along, she fell forward off the edge hearing a gasp and another shot. 

With a tumble, the sea maiden fell now fully immersed in the open water. Her body felt much more at peace in her natural environment. But Erik, what was happening where was he? He had to be coming. The wait was an absolute endless amount of time. 

She swam further down hearing a crash in the water. 

Undine followed the sound, but seeing a revolver tumble out of the dead hands, met only the dead eyes of the unfortunate Percy. 

But then where was Erik? Erik had to be here! If Percy was dead-safe to assume Erik had done with the deed-where was her mate?

Perhaps she was distracted by the corpse that she almost missed the other body that drifted down. Undine's tail twitched feeling something brush against it. Her blonde mass of hair whipped around to see a familiar calloused hand drifting further into the dank water.

"Erik!" She cried, swimming down to grasp his arm. She could see his eyes were half open and dazed. Thankfully alive, but she could see the mass of blood filling the dark blue abyss.

His blue brown eyes haphazardly glanced this way and that out of focus. The pockets of air bubbling out of his agape mouth and toward the dull light above water.   
Undine's dream came to mind, she still had time and limited options. She could always do it, drag him down while he still held little breath. Doing that would save him, secure him a lifetime below the sea with her. 

But the hard cross to bare of Erik's eyes holding no recollection of their original love. 

Biting down on her bottom lip, Undine hoisted Erik up from under his arms and made a dash for the surface. To purge him she knew for a fact would work, this however she had only heard rumor of. Undine was placing Erik's life in a gamble, if she were wrong his only chance to live was uncertain. 

Resurfacing she pulled the man up so as his face were above water. They were so far out and shore was several miles away. 

The ship was kindling from within of orange and yellow dancing flames. The ship would go down eventual, but for now Undine dragged Erik through the water. The mermaid hoisted him up so as his arms were makeshift fastened in the ship's netting hanging over the port side. 

Undine flinched with how hard she had bitten down on her lip, she could tell it was blood running down her chin and not sea water. Holding her hand open, her razor teeth sliced through the soft flesh. The mermaid quivered at the self induced pain. 

Holding her bleeding palm, she pulled open Erik's sea soaked shirt. With pliable pressure Undine gently placed her bloody palm against where the wound presented itself. She shook with fear for Erik's life, she could be wasting precious moments he had left if this failed. 

"I love you," She whimpered, placing bloodstained lips over his pale and bloated. Undine liked to think in that moment Erik used what strength he had to press a kiss back with albeit a weak amount of adjoining pressure. 

Time was a factor they were running short on now.


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're getting close to the end! Hard to believe we've gotten so far now, sadly only a short ways to go now my friends! But hey we're not quite there yet, still a couple more chapters to enjoy before we get to that point. 
> 
> Thank you thank you for ever more kudos and to larissabernstein and helloitskrisha for the comments!

The bitter taste of sea water in Erik's throat left him feeling parched as though laying in the sands of the Sahara (he'd not ventured there himself of course, but certainly in Persia he had endured merciless days and nights, even within the Shah's palace).

Yet he was not sprawled out on a desert terrain, instead his toes had sunk into slimy mud, and warm waves occasionally washing over his chest. The tide was low, only going so high as his upper torso. 

Blue brown eyes opened to the gentle tune of a hum in his ear, and something gentle and warm stroking his scalp. 

Undine hadn't risked leaving his side since they reached the beach. She'd held him above water as best she could until the burning schooner finally met its watery grave. What little debris resurfaced, the mermaid draped Erik's torso over, keeping his head and neck above. It was not an easy feat or endeavor. The seas were rough, visibility was already an issue. 

The man still breathed but was weak and wheezing. Undine herself felt exhaustion, she'd been fed very minimally during her days of captivity. The comfort of being back in the open water rejuvenated her, but it was the equivalent of a temporary high as excursion and fatigue were setting in. 

In the hours peaking into dawn she'd have to risk life and limb again when the sea took new interest in she and her unconcious companion. Fortunately Undine had enough strength to keep away the creatures that surfaced toward them. A school of tiger sharks that had been advancing from below for what was assumed to be an easy meal, made for the other direction at the sound of the sea maiden's screech-she did her best to cover Erik's poor ears as she screamed.

As the horizon rose, her eyes burning from so much surface exposure, her tail and limbs sore and exhausted. They were so close to shore now, her scales caked in muddy sand, her skin feeling dried out and itchy in the sunshine. 

Only the music kept her alive and rooted where they lay, low tide rolling in being the only disturbance on the beach. 

"..." Undine hummed, running her fingers over grey wispy mats of hair. Somehow the tuffs seemed a little fuller on his head, as it dried little by little in the sun. 

Erik had no obligations to put himself through so much turmoil. And yet he risked his life and possibly his sanity in a mad quest to rescue her. 

The things people do for love. 

Erik's neck jerked, his head poking up as a dry raw cough escaped his dehydrated throat. Undine tried to sit him up, she held back a whimper dragging her tail through the hot sand. 

He continued coughing in dry heaves, Undine mumbling sweet nothings in his ear to try and ease some discomfort. 

"We're safe Erik... I'm here." She spoke softly, both to soothe him and having so little strength left. "I won't leave you, you're my mate. My love..."

Erik's arms shakily rose up to find the sound, his eyes blinded by sunlight.

"Undine...?" He called, his voice the softest whisper she could barely hear it. 

She nodded wordlessly, tilting her head. 

Suddenly the sun was obscured from his vision, a cascade of blonde locks fell in front of his face, and a pair of green eyes shining through. 

Her hand met his, curling around his larger fingers. 

Erik's voice was hoarse, but the tenor's voice still had a sing song tone.

"I lo...oove you," What he would have sung no louder than a murmur. 

Undine gently lifted Erik up to a sitting position, the two inseparable in the other's arms. 

"I want nothing more but to share days and nights in song and love Erik." She said, "I don't know where we are. I feel so weak."

It was only at this mention that's Erik's vision that gradually had become unclouded took noticed to how dry her scaled tail had become, beginning to flake over in the beating sun's exposure. 

"Go, find safety in the water." He exhaled, attempting to wiggle his wobbly legs back to life. "I'm sure... I can somehow find out how much further I have to go. I found us a home."

"Us? Truly you have?" She asked

Erik nodded. 

"A seaside cottage, it feels very beneath my empire under the opera." Erik mused. "But I understand what you asked of me, and know I'm not meant to live an underground mole life forever."

Her kiss sealed the approval of Erik's epiphany and decision. And the one after this that followed. But neither could stay in the loving arms of each other for now, right now survival and safety was still the key. 

Once they were home however, their own journey together could begin. 

\--

It was only when Erik had acquired passage to the nearest village that he felt a faint indent where a bullet hole should be. 

The night on the burning schooner had been a large blur up to that point. But he remembered now wrestling for control of the gun. Two shots had rung out, the last shot was by his own hand when the unmasked man had fired a fatal bullet to Percy's chest. But unknown to Erik at the time, the first bullet had pierced his own lung before he'd gotten control over the gun. 

When he was safely sitting in the bedroom of the quiet cottage, Erik had lifted up his nightshirt to examine his wounds. He'd expected a gaping hole, a wound as hideous but not as comparable than his facial deformity. 

But his blue brown eyes glanced down to find only the ghastly pale skin he'd grown accustom to. Where the bullet had entered was closed up. Not unusual except for the factor that it was healed up as though nursed for weeks when in actuality Erik had only had two days to heal. Only a pink indented scar with only mild scabbing remained as evidence that he had suffered a gunshot wound. 

He had to wait only a few short hours for an explanation. 

Though the question nearly escaped Erik's mind as it was too preoccupied with the sea maiden held safely in his arms. 

The sun long since set, immersed in water from the waist up laying in the shallow tide. Since returning, Erik had donned his mask but removed it before venturing outside to the water. All the more access for Undine to run nimble fingers down the creases and ridges of his face. All his life, the musician had endured pain and torment for such a face, yet Undine continued placing gentle kisses and caresses to ease all of that pain. 

"Wh-mmph" Erik mumbled against her lips, both at the mercy of so much intimacy after being touch starved for too long. "What does this mean?"

Undine pulled away, "I had thought I told you before, mates usually-"

He shook his head, nodding to the buttoned down shirt. "No... No I meant this."

Her eyes lingered to the scarring indent, "Yes, I see. Well I had to do something."

"But just what did you do?" 

Undine's hands cupped the handsome and grotesque sides of his face. "It's a myth among our kind. I couldn't go through with a Purging, for you to lose so much I couldn't. So I took a chance."  
Erik could tell she had more to say and nodded her to go on.

"For us to taste blood or flesh of a land dweller does nothing more for us. Yet if a human were to indulge in ours... We have vast healing properties it's said in our blood."

He nodded, that made a great deal of sense. In every encounter with her, her peak skin had no such scar or foreign damage, always so beautiful and made up of perfection. 

"Is that it then?"

"Somewhat, doing so means that to Purge you would now be impossible."

"And why is that?" Erik had more questions, better yet on what exactly purging was but one answer at a time. 

Undine nibbled on her lower lip as though afraid to confess, "Giving you my blood may have saved your life, but also given you more. It's just a rumor, no one certainly I know can say it's happened or true. But if it is..."

Erik blinked, mismatch eyes puzzled and uncertain. 

"You mean to say I can't die?" 

Undine leaned her head against his shoulder. "Well, you'll be alive for a long time-at least I want you to be. I can't say that you'll be immortal, even my kind cannot live forever. Several of your centuries we can survive, but certainly not eternity."

"With this face, it's dreadful that I'll have to carry it for many more years." He mused, feeling her nuzzle his shoulder in protest to his woes. 

"Erik, you are handsome. We interpret beauty as so much more than mere human vanity. Those land dwelling fools are hapless to make you think otherwise. I love this face, I love you."

Erik shuddered, feeling his joints grow numb and weak. Despite the gnarled and distorted flesh he had the cross to bare, such a sight could not poison their love. 

"Undine, I feel like the work of God or the Devil is on my side. Whichever it is, they felt the need to grant me this simple pleasure of having you in my arms again. And I don't want them to ever take it away."

Pulling her close, thin lips met pillowed, Erik finally felt free of the turmoil that had been eating away at his heart months ago. At last he could put the night of Don Juan, the disgust of sneering down at quite closed minded patrons, and the pain stricken memories of Christine sailing away with an echoing goodbye to rest. 

Erik felt a warm tongue prod against his lips, aching for more he let her in. 

Undine peeled away the already damp layers. The warm weather at the musician's new seaside shanty allowing him to somewhat dress down from his three piece tailcoat. 

But Erik cursed the slacks he struggled with given the new fire which he felt, and the growing tight sensation in the confides of his trousers. Thankfully with little struggling on his part, the constricting garment was done away with, hard and throbbing his physical lust was laid bare. 

Undine's mouth ran down along his skin the more that she exposed peeling away the soaked dress shirt. Light feather kisses trailed along his throat as his Adam's apple bobbed with a hard swallow. Her gentle lips sucking against the tender flesh around his collarbone exploring more and more. A thin and slightly elongated tongue gliding over a nipple, teasingly flickering over it as she smiled to the shudder emitted from the flustered maestro.

"Please..." Erik gasped, "My... My love. I need you."

Undine felt her back pressed against the slated rock that gentle waves knocked into. Her head lulled back feeling a pressure press against her scaled half of her body, tail wavered through the shallow water with a twitch.

Erik's head rested against her bare bosom, he exhaled hearing her heart was pounding and rushing just as his was. Raising his hands, one came up to caress a round breast, calloused thumb rolling along the now erect tit. The other hand went below the water, gliding up scales silky to touch as velvet. Undine released a satisfied moan when those musician fingers found it, Erik pressed two fingers into her crevasse, and then a third finger. She mewed in heated passion, her hands grasped for anything, blinding reaching for him. Pulled closer, their lips crashed together, man and mermaid lost in a rush of moaning, panting, and tangled limbs. 

The waves gently crashed against the rock and the pair adjoined atop it. Erik's hand being replaced with something larger, Undine's eyes wide and rolling back. 

What left her lips was even more beautiful than the adorable mewling sounds she had cried moments ago. Tumbling from her throat in words the human ear could not understand, a graceful song that caused a shiver to run down Erik's spine. 

With each thrust and grinding of their tangled flesh, Undine's song only reached further and further to it's peak. While Erik could not understand just what words she sang, his voice-while heaving and exasperated-joined what had become their erotic duet. 

"Sing..." Erik gasped, "Sing for me"

Her tail continued to twitch and flap about harder and faster against the waves, a rush of water splashing against the maestro's bare back.

Undine's hands that were grasping at her mate's shoulders dug into the pale, tender flesh. She could feel herself rising as though she grew wings, the weightless sensation overcoming her in a final sweet moment of bliss. So many colors and beautiful stars filled her vision and seemed to intertwine together just as their bodies currently were. 

Erik could feel her tail go limp and Undine's labored breathing soft and slow, breasts heaving up and down. Already she'd hit her crescendo and he was so close to meet her peak. But her hands while shaky, pulled him close as though goading him on to finish and join her in that perfect elevated state. 

When he reached that final thrust of his pelvis with a throaty groan Erik could feel the rush hit him all at once, still buried inside her as he could feel his seed seep out filling her. 

Neither moved or separated as the waves neither worsened or lessened, both coated in sea water, sweat, and filled with a feeling of satisfied bliss. 

"Never leave me," Erik mumbled, his arms weaving around her. Undine hummed curling up against his chest, breathing in the sex, sea, and natural scent she recognized to only be his.

"You are mine, and I am yours," Undine replied. She reached up to run fingers through the damp grey mats of hair, "I'm not going anywhere. Neither of us will again Erik."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like alot of mermaidy scenes, I borrowed from another folklore legend. Supposedly consuming the flesh-and by extension the blood-of a mermaid can give one immortality or in the very least a much longer lifespan. Quite similar to some vampire mythos of a human drinking vampire blood and gaining some attributes including increased life and stamina.


	18. Chapter 18

Erik regretted neglecting the seaside beauty for much of his life until now.

The former opera ghost had become a nocturnal creature accustom to the dark for so many years. So to suddenly live above ground and in full view of the light was a shock his body would have to grow accustom to.

Undine remarked how starkly white his complexion was.   
"Of course I still like it," She had made sure to include, gently running a hand down down his rigid cheek. "But it might do for your health."

"Et tou my dear," Erik quick to retort, musician fingers tracing down along her wrist. "I can practically see your veins."

True to say they were two creatures of habit made for each other, given how far in the deep merfolk kept themselves concealed. 

The seaside the cottage sat on was pleasently secluded, the land an island of itself and far enough from the quite few locals to give the estrange pair their personal peace. 

Erik was awoken by the sun beaming down on his unmasked face, which contorted with a grimace at the intrusion. Undine enjoyed to sing for him during the night, and he had failed to close the blinds having fallen into slumber with her voice. 

The door with a slight creak opened to his groggy eyes, brown and blue taking in the tranquility. A cloudless blue across the horizon and the sun high and dominant in the sky. The crash of waves, and the occasional hungry caw of a gull meeting his ears. Erik's state of dress was quite disorderly and rumpled compared to nightly opera attire. He had since rolled up the legs of his slacks, as he'd like to avoid the garment being soiled by pesky grains of sand. The button up shirt on his back was certainly not as wrinkle free and pressed as it had always been before-he still took great care in keeping everything clean however, he wasn't a neanderthal. 

Erik hissed at the warm blistering sensation as bare feet met warm sand, and with a conflicting reaction. It was relief when his aching toes sank into slow rolling tide on the beach. The sand wet and slimy to the touch, but certainly much cooler against his bare skin than hot and dry.

Upon the rocks he would sit, he had tried to compose here but that was certainly a flawed plan. In a gusting breeze he had lost the half complete sheet music he had started upon setting it down to reach for his violin, much to his irritability and discontent.

So the violin alone would have to do, his mind's eye would hold all of his new ideas and compositions. 

Some days he played for a few short hours, other nights he played until the sun died on the horizon's fading light.

But he always finished up before the sun completely went down. The evening was always pre occupied of course, and another reason why Erik's most recent attire was so disheveled and unkempt. 

Not every night he expected Undine, but the evenings shared were their peak moments together, many that they hoped to share for years. Of course their relationship went much further than mere carnal lust or pleasure, but it was certainly a welcomed attribute. 

So naturally it stirred some alarm when she was absent for several days. The odd time he might have seen a tail surface and dive back down again, a silent signal that all was ok. But her absence was a stir of concern. 

So when the mermaid resurfaced and beckoned him over, it was a welcome sight for sore eyes. His legs crashed against the calm water as Erik staggered in, the seawater up to his chest. Undine's tail protective wrapped around him feeling his arms envelop her.

"Oh... Ah!" She grunted but strained a smile.

Erik's good brow quirked in concern. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I mean that it's nothing wrong exactly..."

"My sweet, what's going on? You look very pale-more than you should-are you ill?"

Undine shook her head, "Oh, you must know. It's best you do."

Before Erik could ask further however, the sea maiden grasped his hand in his. While it was intimately nice and he'd thought not much of it. At least up to when she pulled his calloused hand to her abdoman, sprawl his fingers over her stomach from beneath the water. 

Erik was puzzled to feel how much more bloated she was, not by much but enough that her belly was no longer flat and so starved. 

"What am I suppose to be feeling?" Erik asked with a hushed whisper. 

Undine shook her head, "Erik, you're a smart man of your species. I'm sure you understand enough."

"But you can't possibly say that... But this is."

"But it is." Undine nodded, spreading his fingers along her bare abdoman. 

It was difficult for the former opera ghost to mask his hurt and simmering fury from beneath the surface. 

"And I suppose with the father is where you have been going these last past nights," Erik mused tight lipped.

Undine looked up at him puzzled, still in his now stiff embrace. She pulled away to look up at his mismatch eyes. "But Erik?"

"I understand your customs of courtship are different than my own but-"

"Erik." She shushed him assertively, "I have been. Because YOU are its father. Even my kind frown upon adultery, especially should one of the lovers become pregnant."

Mismatch blue brown eyes were wide and alight with wild recognition. It didn't seem so real until she had let those two syllables slip. 

"Pregnant." He mumbled, his breathes now gasping. "And you are... My darling! Pregnant, I..."

It was always a fear dwelling inside Erik's head of spawning a child, that panic stemming all from the possibility the child may inherit his... striking looks. Perhaps the fear while still a lingering thought, was laying dormant with the knowledge that they were miles rather than floors away from cruel civilization. 

And his real concern may possibly be on whether or not the unborn baby was sprouting fins and a tail as it grew inside her. 

\--

To tell truth, mating between merfolk and humans was uncommon but not unheard of in Undine's life time. Though never was it mentioned the possibility or happening of one of the interspecies parties conceiving a hybrid child.  
It was simpler between her own kind, only ever due to the male's quite often more than the female carrying the child. But now she felt a weight and growth in her belly, it made hunting dangerous and Undine all the more cautious, for she and her expectant offspring. 

Erik's concern however bordered on coddling. 

Sometimes she'd forgotten the stories he told her once they'd reunited on the beachside of the cottage. Erik had the means and skill to be cold and cruel, here she was concerned how her predatory nature would affect her mate, when his bare hands alone had been responsible for too many lives. But truly he and Undine's means of brutality intertwined their fate's more.

All the same it made the act of a murderer's hands ever so gently caressing her growing belly whilst providing her a fresh catch. 

"I'm not very apt at it," He apologized for how small a morsel he had caught, "Music is much less wild and unpredictable as this."

Undine shook her head, "It's wonderful Erik, I cannot hunt so deep down as before right now. Anything is welcome."

Her appetite had largely increased, and she was still quite famished, or the baby was. Somebody was and that's what mattered.

"How does it happen exactly?" He asked, "When you're ready? Are there... well, do you hatch...or is there many-"

Undine giggled, a hum radiating in her laugh. 

"I do not lay eggs on a rock if that is what you are questioning," She answered, somewhat to Erik's relief. Just the thought of raising one child was enough to spike his adrenaline. He wouldn't quite know what to do if she delivered dozens of babies sharing his genes. 

"So it is a live birth?"

Undine nodded, "As it is with land dwellers yes. Consider yourself lucky only the females of your species carry. It's just as laboring if not more."

Erik was still astounded, "You've developed though so quickly."

"We do no take as long as humans do. That's such a long time to endure with child!" Between her own kind, birth took half the time as it did with human females. It was still quite literally a heavy burden for the expecting mother as Undine had even less time to adjust. 

Undine pretended not to notice Erik sliding the last fresh carp he had caught toward her dwindling pile on the rocks. 

Granted she was eating for at least one other mouth, she often scolded the man for not giving himself fair share over food. While his build and stature was firm, he need not begin resembling a skeleton all because she was pregnant. 

\--

Her screeches were ear splitting the night it finally came. He'd heard it before seeing the glass of the bedroom window pane begin splintering with spider cracks. 

Late in the night Erik snapped awake and moments later tumbled out of bed at the horrific screaming. Untangling himself from the sheet and hurriedly putting on a pair of trousers, the shirt was barely thrown over his back-two buttons fastened in the wrong holes. 

He blindly trudged into the dark water, Undine was shoved against the boulder-the massive rock formation their regular rendezvous-her tail violently thrashed as she thrust her hips. Arms were around her swollen belly, her hair was wet and for once quite scraggly and stringy. Her nails long and stretched like talons and her predatory jaw looking as though it'd unhinge at any moment like a snakes. Just how long had she been hunched over on the rocks?

Erik was at last at her side, in his haste he'd made a false attempt to shove cotton in his ear canals. This effort only ever slightly muffling the glass shattering scream. 

"E-Eriiiik!" She moaned, feeling another tug as she yelped.

"You have to do it now darling," He clutched her hand giding it to her abdoman. "As you told me you must!"

"I...I I can't!" She wheezed with fresh salty tears. "Hurts! My hands I can't!" 

"But there isn't another way!"

In anticipation, Undine had guided her human mate on her kind's birthing process, not wanting to alarm or panic him in the moments of labor. She would need to focus her sprouted talons, normally triggered by predatory attack and slice open an airway for the infant to be born. 

However this feat was easier said than done, more often it was the breeding male carrying the child that had enough strength to free the baby. But so much pushing and tugging on her insides Undine was too weak to keep even her palms steady. 

"You need to Erik," She panted, her grip on his hands squeezing his fingers with a painful clicking sensation. "I can't... please! I I can't!"

Erik grimaced at both the painful sting and being tasked with quite literally cutting the mermaid open. He had enough trouble gutting a trout, and here he was expecting to deliver a child. His child.

"Pleeeeease!" She howled, her hands rolling over her belly, willing the baby to stop it's painful squirming about to be free.

Erik gulped, his heart heavy and his heart caught in his throat. 

"Please help me Erik..." Undine begged. "Help our baby"

The musician's bloated lips with pressed uncomfortably together when he removed the knife from his strap. 

He'd murdered dozens with little care or concern, perhaps hundreds if you included the casualties of his maze of mirrors. But this, merciful and without loss of life felt even more pain stricken for him to do as he brought the knife down to press against her abdoman. 

Erik wished he could close his eyes seeing the blood slowly pool into the seawater, her screaming neither lessened or worsened.

He'd all but thrown the knife into the water when Undine through her labored breath and crying had assured him he'd cut deep enough. Now would come the delivery, thankfully a process only Undine would be able to complete quite similar to human mothers pregnancy.

It was still so grueling and not a fast and easy process.

The hours-or at least what must have been hours as the horizon began to change pink and yellow-passed unnaturally slow, as though some godly entity had frozen the meaning of time. 

And it all but froze completely when Erik's ears could make out so clearly through the cotton a new shrieking cry that did not belong to Undine. It was a cry of birth, new life meeting the world. 

The head came first, through the smear of red he could see tiny, fat arms wriggling, the tiny hands in weak fists.

And legs. No tail but the smallest of legs and itty bitty toes attached to those little feet. 

Undine had stopped screaming, but she was crying. Through the gasping sobs, she weeped holding her baby against her heaving breasts. 

The infant whimpered, leaning into her touch instinctively. Whatever species it was now, it knew who its' mother was.

Questions would pace through his anxious head a mile a minute. But now there were no questions or even words. 

He had a family, something he ached for as a child and was denied by his loathsome mother. It was a warm and sought after longing he never truly grasped the importance of as he grew and matured to what had once been a very isolated and lonely man.

But looking upon Undine, cradling the blood smeared baby, tail curved in almost protectively around them, the child's cries simmering to a cooing whimper against her breast. Now it made so much sense the importance of such a concept to him.


	19. Chapter 19

Waves washed up with a mighty collision against the rocks just off shore. 

Erik frowned at the worsening conditions. It was too late, hadn't he mentioned this? Of course he had, several times mentioned the weather was a factor to consider. 

But it was difficult to keep a stern unwavering expression when the mop of messy curls and tiny limbs resurfaced from the rising tide. 

"Finally!" He called with a sigh of relief. "You know what I've said before."

"Sorry Papa! I'm coming!" The small child shouted with a heaving breath, dragging a dripping wet sack through the muddy sand. "But! Had to...oof!"

The child fell over from the weight of her load. Erik hurried over, already he could hear thunder rolling in. 

Scooping her up with one arm, and with a grunt lifting the sand caked pouch, "Right, inside and you can tell me all about your day."

She smiled up at his mangled face that she loved so much, "Yes Papa."

Aoide was the missing puzzle piece that completed the perfect picture of life Erik had craved without realizing it. Undine had suggested Erik decide a name, advising anything she were to suggest would be noncomprehending to a human ear. He had considered such as the new not name he had given the sea maiden-although she did get much enjoyment hearing him groan the Undine alias during nightly dalliances of heat. Perhaps similar to her an operatic name would be prominent, and then he considered how many great operas were inspired by such tragedies and histories of the Greeks. In his travels he reminisced the tale of the Muses, Goddesses that represented art and music. 

And so the namesake of the Greek Muse sister of song and voice came to be that of the squirmy new bundle of joy the man and mermaid held. 

Already she had grown so much in only five short years. In the time since then Erik had noted how his hair miraculously began sprouting healthy color and more volume. Undine had remarked it a possible healing affect from the night she had fed him her blood. Sadly his face was a mark he'd bore since birth and was not as irreversible as the hair loss and discoloration he had endured much later in his life.

Nevertheless, having a normal man's head of hair it came to resemble that of the copper red brown wig he had adorned beneath the opera-and he still styled it as such having personal morals of class and cleanliness. Aoide locks were a shared trait with her parents. Her hair was neither blonde nor brunette but a delightful combination that all too reminded him of the golden sandy seaside they lived on.

Erik had held fear during the pregnancy and even the birth that their baby would bare his outward ugliness, and worse feel the same resentment he had felt. The horror that she would not be able to look properly into a mirror, or consistently have her face covered among any outsiders-heaven forbid he allow that anytime soon. 

But that was not the case. To Undine's joy those same mismatching blue brown eyes were a clearly inherited feature, and one where the sea maiden outwardly expressed her delight. Their child held only pure beauty. Aoide was the image of an angel, her round face healthy, always smiling. She looked so much like her mother in her face, the rise of her cheekbones and the tipped up nose. Even her sandy yellow hair mirrored Undine's so much, the curls were so natural. Even if one tried to brush Aoide's locks straight, somehow they would bunch up and pool down in a sea of luscious curls as if in rebellious reluctance. 

And the unmasked maestro had come to a realization he knew but just didn't have the courage to admit until now. Even if she were to have been born with a sunken in cheek, a caved in nose, all be damned if she had sprouted a bloody horn in the middle of her head he would still see her as nothing but beautiful-but he was happy to note no horns.

That was not to say Aoide had inherited most feature's from her land bound father. That did not appear however until just a day after her second birthday. 

One cloudy afternoon, Erik and daughter were indulging in a late lunch after a walk along the shoreline. He had forgotten the sandwiches inside the cottage and stepped away for just over sixty seconds to fetch them. Returning the maestro however was horrified seeing Aoide half crawl half wobble walk into the waves.

"AOIDE!" Erik shouted, dropping what he had been doing and sprinting into the coming current. His feet slowly dragged through the water trying to reach the mop of sandy blonde hair that bobbed further out. 

His heart skipped a beat seeing her sink down, his limbs flailing out, grasping out at nothing between his fingers. 

He bobbed helplessly in the water, terrified as the minutes went by and no sign of her. Was he really so well acquainted with death that he couldn't even support the life he helped bring into the world?

Erik was hyperventilating, ashamed and terrified.

He jerked, startled when he was pulled around. Undine stared at him quizzically.

"Love, what's wrong?" She asked.

Oh no, what was he about to say? He'd lost their daughter and the poor drifted off to drown?

"Aoide," He mumbled woefully.

"I don't-"

Erik whipped around hearing a loud flail of splashing and a familiar high pitch giggle. 

"Maman!" The child called, swimming back into the lower tide toward the pair.

Undine's warm smile only increased watching her child bob closer.

"It's pretty!" Aoide grinned, holding in her hands a seashell. It had a caked muddy layer of sand, but through the grime was a lovely visible shade of pink. She pushed it toward her mother, "It's a present."

"How beautiful darling," Undine accepted the shell, her hand gliding over hers.

"Aoide, you must be careful." Erik cautioned, relieved but still so concerned for his daughter. "Papa was scared he lost you."

"Lost?" She asked confused, "But I here?" 

He was about to go on, but his blue brown eyes quirked staring at the conjoined hands. Slowly he reached out and pried open Aoide's now empty hand after depositing the shell to Undine's. 

Holding her hand up to a better eye level it was easier to see a faint, albeit translucent, layer of webbing in the crevices between her tiny fingers. 

At least it wasn't horns. 

Aoide had originally seemed like an average biped, but now it seemed her feet-also found to have traces of webbing-were not strictly bound to land.

The child had never questioned her mother's sea restricted traits, no more did her tail seem any more or less different than her father's face. To Aoide, her parents seemed quite normal and happy. And being able to swim down to the deep alongside Undine's twirling tail made her just as happy. 

Over the years Erik' stamina underwater was improved-as a musician alone it was above an average man's-but Aoide was certainly heightened. At first it started out as a few minutes under the waves, but at only the age of five she was able to stay stable for several hours before she'd need to return to her sea side home.

And with each new underwater adventure she'd acquired more and more treasures. The worn sack would be dragged behind her as her feet sank into warm sand. And after every adventure she'd go through her finds, but very rarely did she keep treasures for herself. 

Erik was confused when she'd held up the giant rock in her hands. No wonder the poor girl had fallen over, it was massive! 

Yes, not every find Aoide found would be considered overly special, some of which she would return. But then there were some days that a diamond in the rough could be found.

Well, not a diamond in this case but close enough.

It was when the masked man held it and turned the rock that he saw the glimmer of blue within the rocky outer layer. The gem was absolutely breathtaking. 

"Remarkable," Erik gaped. 

As it turned out, the gemstone was hauyne, and unknowingly Aoide had harvested quite a hefty amount of it from below in the sea deep. 

Of course Erik never imagined selling it, regardless if it had any worth-he had more than sufficient funds remaining if needs be. But this was worth more than mere currency, Aoide was truly a gem, absolutely priceless. 

The masked man considered him more of a mason craftsman, but he was able to extract the hauyne from the seabed rock. Once he'd done this, there had been a few sleep deprived nights, resulting in a special gift of his own. 

The door to Aoide's bedroom gently creaked open. Cocooned in soft bedding, the child breathed softly in her sleep. Erik took a few moments to watch her, when years ago he'd always thought music was the closest he'd ever come to progeny or spreading his knowledge. 

Aoide mumbled in her sleep, gently Erik roused her awake.

"Time to get up, little one." He sing song said. 

Blinking her eyes open, she sleepily curled against her pillow. "Good morning papa."

"I have something for you,"

Coming around the bed, Erik's hands gently and carefully came to the base of her neck and around it. 

He clasped it in place before lifting the petit child from the covers and to a small mirror-thankfully small enough so as he would not dare look upon his own reflection. 

"Papa!" Aoide gasped, "Pretty!"

Utilizing what few jewels from his early years of Persia he still kept, they weaved an intricate dark web around her small throat, little gleams of deep blue peaked out within the necklace web.

Feeling the child's arms wrap around Erik's neck in a warm hug, he sighed content. 

Love truly was something it seemed that could never die, falter, nor fade.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Almost at the end friends! Only one more installment after this chapter, sad that the story will be coming to an end. But all good things and such, but thank you everyone for the kind comments and kudos during the trek of this story! Remember, one last chapter after this so stay tuned!
> 
> There are varying mythologies on the Muse sisters, ranging from three, five, seven, and even nine different deities. But the one I borrowed is from the concept of three Muse sisters being Aoide of voice and song, Melete of practice and occasion, and Mneme of memory.
> 
> And the look I was going for if anyone was curious was indeed Christine's obnoxiously beautiful necklace from Love Never Dies (the title song)


	20. Epilogue

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Such a journey this story has been! Thank you so much to every person that gave kudos, a lovely comment, or even just stopping in and reading my work! Thank you so much <3

August 1990 

The summer had come and was teetering to a halt in just a few more weeks. Low tide was gradually rising across what would eventually become an island by sundown. 

In the distance, one last straggler made their way down the walkway leading into the marvel of civilization. Tourism was a word that had had its effect on the island but all the same the rich history thrived just as it had centuries before. With the rising water levels the little community was quieting down. 

One occupant in particular eagerly awaiting the rolling in sea. 

Sitting on a blanket laid down on the golden sand, the man's feet propped up in front of him tapped impatiently. Through mismatch irises he watched the sun dip low against the water's growing edge. Nighttime had always been their prime time of meeting, and the waves natural schedule now bound them to such a routine. 

"Dad!" His head perked up hearing a familiar voice. 

Turning around, Erik smiled seeing a familiar young woman strut toward him with a wave of her hand. Standing he held his arms open as she let herself be wrapped in his arms.

"You look splendid my dear," His bloated lips curved upward. "Enjoyed the canals?"

Aoide shook her head, "I cut Venice short actually."

"Oh? And where have you been then?"

"A little closer to home, you could say." She set down a rather worn down backpack into the sand, crouching down to rummage through it.

Despite her birth being over a hundred and eight years ago Aoide Leroux was by anyone else's account but a spry young woman at the age of twenty three-at least so all of such was listed on her latest drivers license. Just as her father still stood beside her, time was slow in taking hold of either of them. 

But Erik had gradually felt age only just start to play catch up with his body. His hair that had long since regrown stayed full but began to grey and lighten over the last three or four decades. His face both deformed and unscathed halves had begun developing the tell tale creases of age but did not droop or sag as the poorly aged had to endure. 

But for a man with half a face and more than a century under his belt he was aging rather gracefully. The rare occurrences he ventured to the village-mask on of course-he was remarked as rather handsome for an older gentleman. Erik didn't like to venture far from the cottage for long, enjoyed keeping to himself only leaving for improvements on his since restored violin and whenever he began running low on parchment for his music. 

And naturally his music was not just bound to paper. For the better part of a century, Erik had blissfully lived a life tangled in harmonies and in a woman's arms whose teal tail gleamed in the moonlight. Much of the music Erik had composed and completed was due to Undine, the songs in his head heightening his profound art to new heights he had only ever dreamed. And to be lost in his lover's embrace for sweet endless hours seemed to rejuvenate his life moreso than her blood had decades earlier. 

Of course his music he had tried to keep confide to the sea cottage and with his family, at least until Aoide returned to visit him in the late forties. The little minx having shown one of his finished scores to a highly intrigued investor in Vienna. 

Erik of course refused to go so far from his home, call his hermit nature a force of habit and a refusal to leave the sea for that long-or rather what was in the sea. And so his daughter made a rather remarkable pursuit to spread his music through her voice, with as much grace and beauty as her parents possessed. 

Her latest adventure was to take her to a music conservatory in Italy, but Aoide seem to have other plans, finally finding what she was looking for.

Handing her father the developed photographs, his mismatch blue brown eyes grew wide. 

"Why would you think to go there?" Erik asked, perplexed staring down at the grand staircase of a familiar opera house. 

"I was told this only ever played for one night at a grand opera in Paris, they went white as a sheet when I asked about it." She smirked holding up the yellowed pages of a familiar score. 

Wide eyed Erik snatched Don Juan Triumphant from her hands. 

"You had no right to take this! This score is and should remain private." He scowled.

"I found this with a bunch of other songs in your cabinet-though the other ones weren't finished. But this was the only one I could find that was complete in that stack."

He sighed, "Fine fine, and how much do you know now?"

"Well that's something else I have to show you, but we'll need to go inside."

Erik hummed, looking from his daughter to rolling in tide. "You know it's almost sundown."

"Mom will still be on the way by the time I show you, it won't take long. Promise."

The musician nodded, "Alright, but fast. It really has been too long since you two have been together."

"And who's fault was that?" She giggled. 

"I'm not placing blame or saying it was anyone's doing, I simply thought you'd want to see more of the ways of the world and the many more musical opportunities out there for you."

"I love you too dad," Aoide smiled, pulling on his hand toward the cottage.

Stepping inside, she trotted into what was a sitting room but was converted into a musician's practice room. Sheet music spread over a desk with a half drunk cup of tea atop the cluttered space. a violin and bow propped on an armchair. And in the decades following Erik's newly adapted lifestyle had introduced a baby grand into his seaside home. It was not his immaculate organ of old, but it was still a suitable instrument for his neverending muse. 

Now sitting on the bench of the piano was a familiar friend of the past Erik hadn't seen in years. 

"Where did you find this?" He asked in bewilderment staring down at a monkey in Persian robes with a cymbal in each paw. 

"It took some digging and tracking down the original buyer. He said his great grandfather had purchased it, said it had some meaning to him but never said a word of why to his family. Only that it involved a masked ghost beneath the opera."

Glancing at the porcelain half mask that laid on the table beside the chair. "Really, you don't say?"

"Did you really do all those things the papers said?" 

Erik huffed, "Well not all of it. Of course after the night of Don Juan the headlines enjoyed stretching the truth of my dealings."

He studied the music box, carefully reaching out to crank the handle.

"What was the man's name?" 

Aoide shrugged, "Chagny, the guy didn't seem to mind parting with it, only his grandfather knew about this thing-said it had something to do with his mother-and he passed away about ten years ago."

Releasing the crank, the monkey came to life bringing its hands together as a twinkling tune began to play.

"Masquerade..." Erik sang, the memories flooding back. "Paper faces on parade. Masquerade, hide your face so the world can never find you..."

Aoide smiled, she loved to hear her father sing to her when she was younger. 

"Does mom know about all of it?"

Erik nodded, "I told her shortly after leaving Paris, it seemed only right to."

"I'm... I'm not mad you didn't tell me,"

He was nervous of the initial rejection he expected, but never received thankfully. 

Shaking her head, Aoide smiled. "After all I grew up with, finding this out doesn't change anything about how I feel about you. After all I've seen and know about the world already, should this really be that alarming?"

"Thank you my dear. That's all I hoped for."

She shook her head, "Should we go back out? The tide must almost be here now. I can tell."

Of course she could, even keeping to land the draw of the water was so tempting and teasing ache Aoide felt deep down.

"Right," One last glance to the music box, they walked out to where the sky was now a purple and orange entwined together. Just against the jagged boulder formation a shape was recognizable. 

"Go on," Erik gestured, "You first dearest."

Already kicking off her shoes, and shirking away her jacket as she made a few choice steps into the sticky sand.

As though she were a little girl again, Aoide squealed with delight feeling the water tickle her now bare feet. The webs of her toes and fingers sprouting to life as she immersed herself into the growing waves, feeling back home and at peace in the water. Diving below into the waves, resurfacing to where a tail twitched about. 

Aoide smiled, "Hi mom."

Undine pulled her daughter in close, "Aoide, always my little one. How long has it been?"

"Too long, I missed it all so much."

Undine hummed, resting her chin against Aoide's bare shoulder. Glancing up, the mermaid smiled seeing her mate watch them from shore.

With the coo and gentle chorus of notes escaping her lips, she beckoned Erik to come hither.

Helpless to her breathtaking music, the unmasked man let himself walk down into the shallows until the water reached up to his waist. But he felt a cool touch interlock with his palm as Undine guided him out to her. 

"I'll be along Aoide," Undine said, her eyes never leaving his. 

"Alright, I'll be out at the corals." She then dived down, vanishing below the dark waves. The high tide low tide transition made her parents meetings increasingly difficult over the years so she knew they'd want some time alone. And she knew exactly what this would lead to. She was a grown adult in certainly every regard, but did not wish to be present in watching her parents private intimacy 

And it wasn't long before the lovers were lips and limbs interlocked together. Sinking below the water, Erik's fingers combed through Undine's curling strands, his free hand running gentle and slow along her scales. The mermaid's nimble fingers buried themselves under the fabric of his soaked through shirt, shirking and tugging at the tangling garment. She giggled at the familiar groan of approval when she gave a teasing tug at the top button of Erik's trousers. It had been awhile-not including their last interlocked dalliance in the enlarged bath tub Erik had remodeled. 

How many years more did either of them have left? Another decade or two? Another century? 

But time was not a factor either bothered to take in consideration in the night, sharing their love and passion together for them that felt eternal eons between the boundaries of land and sea.


End file.
